Nothing's Fair in Love and War
by HisAsgardianAngel
Summary: Loki is reforming plans to take over Midgard when he meets Britney, a quirky intern with a knack for mischief. But what happens when Loki's plans blow up in his face and put the love of this life in danger and his brothers love life in jeopardy? Will he destroy S.H.E.I.L.D. and take his rightful place as king, or will the only thing good about his life be taken from him?
1. Family Ties

*I'm sorry this chapter is so weird, I was just having a hard time getting started. I promise this story will have a far better plot than all this randomness, I have it all planned out. Thanks for reading :)

Loki had been at it again. He had gone to Midgard with no other purpose than to conquer it, feeling it would be the easiest of the nine realms considering the only humans he'd interacted with had been utter buffoons. When he stepped off of the bifrost and into this new realm he nearly gagged. There was a rather large restaurant before him, the name glowing from it's neon lights in the darkness.

"Thor's Thundering Chicken…Oh for Gods sake please tell me these pitiful Midgardians don't worship my idiot brother as well." He spat, folding his arms and staring spitefully at the building. He could hear the bifrost reopening behind him and he turned around.

"What's there not to worship?" Thor asked with a dashing smile.

"Speak of the devil, you really are obsessed with me, brother, it isn't healthy." They narrowed their eyes at each other and Thor stepped closer.

"What I'm obsessed with is making sure you don't cause anyone anymore harm. I'm taking you back to your cell, Loki. I wish it could be different." Loki shoved him away.

"No you don't, don't pretend to be my loving and concerned family. We're not brothers, we never were." Hurt flashed across Thor's features, but he remained stoic.

"I don't believe that. No matter what Loki, Odin is your father, he rescued you!" Loki sneered.

"You think he did that for me? He is not my father!" He bellowed, using all of his strength to knock Thor into the side of the restaurant. They wrestled for a few moments, Thor bashing Loki's head into the brick so hard that the already dented and crumbling brick caved in and the superhuman pair tumbled into the restaurant, Loki landing on top and giving his brother a nice hard punch to the nose. Thor let out an ear-splitting yell and punched Loki straight off of him, his back smacking against the un-damaged portion of the wall. A girl with thick waist length brunette waves, molten gray eyes and spontaneously dusted freckles, ran from a back room to assess the situation.

"What the hell is going on out here?!" She demanded, storming over to the hole in the wall until she noticed the two men. The wind was knocked out of her as her eyes fell upon the long blonde locks of Thor and the size of his hammer.

"U-Um…." She wanted to ask the beautiful stranger what in the world he thought he was doing but she seemed to only be able to find one word.

"Daddy!" Thor and Loki looked at each other quickly and since he was the silver-tongued brother, Loki stood up and dusted himself off.

"Please, Miss, that won't be necessary." The young woman, who appeared to be a waitress, wasn't having any of it.

"Daddy!" She screamed again. Loki's soothing façade drained away and he glared at her.

"Shut up you mewling quim, if you would just allow me to explain—" The bitter sound of Loki's voice sputtered off as he was interrupted by a large man barreling toward them.

"What did you just call my daughter?!" Loki smirked, amusement flooding his eyes.

"I called her what she is. A mewling quim." Thor noticed the man's confusion and he innocently added "I believe in this realm it translates into noisy…what's the word…cunt?" The girl tried to stop her father, but was unable as he landed a jab to Thor's stomach. He immediately recoiled, having hurt his hand far more than he'd hurt Thor, and Loki burst into a cackle.

"Dare you hit a God?" The girl seemed to snap out of her speechlessness and put her arm on her fathers shoulder.

"It's okay, dad, they are obviously mentally challenged. We will take you to the hospital for your hand, and then for those two I'm not sure whether to call the cops or a mental facility…" Her father's face became increasingly red.

"The cops, Emily! They knocked our wall in!" Emily sighed.

"Yes, dad, but the greasy looking one thinks they're gods…I think they seriously need our help." Loki opened his mouth as if to defend himself as not being greasy, but there was yet another interruption as a petite pixie like girl stepped through the wreckage.

"Um…I was gunna use the door but…yeah. You got any Thunder sauce? You know I like to keep packets of it in my purse." Everything that had just happened was momentarily erased from Loki's mind as he eyed the girl. He admired her apparent apathy and how she demanded something the moment she entered. His eyes then lingered on the perfectly curled strands of honey locks that rested at her breasts and her deep chocolate brown eyes.

"Britney! Seriously? Do you not even care that there is a gaping hole in our wall, what is wrong with you?!" She shrugged as she turned her playful gaze to the men standing with her friend.

"You haven't like…hurt my best friend or anything have you? Because you two may be hot but I will go Donkey Kong on your asses if—" Thor held up his hand as if to silence her.

"We meant no harm to the maiden…" It was as if Emily had just noticed Thor's accent, that or the fact that he'd called her a maiden, but no sooner were the words out of his mouth that she fainted. Thor's eyebrows knitted together in worry and he bent down to help her.

"Are you alright, Maiden?" Emily's father attempted to stop him from touching her, hitting him with his already injured hand and crying out again. Britney tried her hardest not to laugh, watching her friends father cry a little and then turning her attention to the other man that she hadn't really had time to fully notice. He was pinching the bridge of his nose in what appeared to her as shame and exasperation.

"I am surrounded by idiots." She curled her hair around her finger, admiring his own accent and his perfect shoulder-length black hair.

"I love The Lion King." Loki's hand fell from his face and he shot her an incredulous look.

"Excuse me? What in the seven hells is a Lion King?" Britney blushed and immediately looked at the floor.

"Um…I-I'm sorry, I thought you were making a reference to this movie…" Loki wasn't exactly sure how to react, normally a woman's blabbering would be annoying to him, but this one was different for some reason. She intrigued him.

"I'm not sure what a movie is, but this Lion King…he's the king of this realm, yes? Where can I find him?" She laughed gently and it sounded like bells to the God.

"You don't have movies where you're from? And what do you mean, realm? You speak like you're straight out of one of my mythology books." She then eyed his outfit and looked over at Thor, who was still staring intently and the unconscious Emily.

"Are you guys cosplaying?" It was Loki's turn to laugh, which gave Britney goose bumps.

"And you think I speak strangely, my fair one? I don't know what that is either, your realm of Midgard seems to differ greatly from Asgard, where I'm from." Emily's eyes fluttered open and she sat up, looking dead seriously at Britney.

"I was just telling my father that they were mad…they think they're Norse Gods." Instead of seeming worried, like Emily was sure her friend should be, Britney looked nothing short of excited.

"You mean like Odin and Thor?" Loki grinned wide like a Cheshire Cat.

"Who needs Odin and Thor when you can be the God of mischief? The names Loki." He purred, kissing the back of her hand. A blush crept up her face, but before she could respond Emily's father cleared his throat.

"Britney Alaine, your father would die if he knew you were fraternizing with such a man! Get away from him, I'm calling the police." Loki sighed.

"Don't believe I'm a God? Fine, allow me to demonstrate." Loki made his staff materialize into his hand and Thor stood up, pulling Emily up with him and growling.

"Loki don't!" Thor wrapped his arms around Emily in a protective stance as Loki shot a beam from his staff just above their heads. Loki let out another airy laugh.

"What? I wasn't going to harm her." Britney snickered too and Loki looked back her with a grin, pleased that he'd seemed to impress her.

"I like this one, she doesn't seem to have a stick up her arse." Emily's father took a shaky breath as if to calm himself.

"L-Look…if you leave now, I promise not to call the police. Please, leave my daughter alone and go." Loki shrugged and turned to Britney.

"You. Come, follow me." Britney didn't hesitate to follow the stranger, whispering that she was sorry to Emily and her father but she just had to go. Thor looked apologetically at Emily.

"I'm so sorry about this, I'll pay for the damages…it's just that…I have to stop Loki. I know he's got an awful plan for this realm, I only want to protect your people." He promised, beginning to win Emily over as she felt a twinge of giddiness in her heart.

"We have to get Britney away from him then." She said slowly, all of it still processing in her brain.

"I'm not so sure about that actually…I know that she's your friend, but maybe if she gets close to Loki he'll tell her his plan. And she'd tell you right?" Emily snorted.

"Of course, we're besties." Thor nodded and smiled.

"Good. And don't worry, I know my brother. I haven't seen that look in his eyes before, he'll treat her well enough." That made Emily a little uncomfortable but she went with it, Britney followed her heart over her head, but she was an overall smart girl.

Meanwhile Britney was a little uncomfortable walking aimlessly along with the so called god of mischief. He was gorgeous, lean but muscular, and that hair…oh that hair. She didn't really know how to interact with him, but she desperately wanted too. Loki was feeling the same way, unable to sort out exactly what this newfound attraction meant to him. He found her very attractive and amusing, but was he capable of love after everything that he'd done? He really didn't want to go through the whole flirting process if he'd never fall in love with her, but that was the problem. He had already begun flirting on instinct and the very fact that he considered her feelings was a miracle in itself.

What are you doing? He thought to himself, running his hand through his long raven mane. He sighed to himself and looked at her, admiring how cute and short she was.

Eh, what the hell. He thought, dismissing his worry. He was curious to see where this would lead him and…well, what was the harm in that?

"You…Britney, is it? Have you ever been to Asgard?"


	2. Stark Solutions

Britney's eyes lit up and she smiled at Loki, watching curiously as his face shone with pure amusement.

"No, but I have read about it in my Mythology class…that's what I'm getting my minor in, while majoring in Journalism. I want to report and research findings on proof of mythological facts. To be honest I never really dreamed I'd find anything until now." Loki seemed to ponder her words before smirking.

"So what you're saying is…you want to prove whatever it is that's in these books of yours, and from the sound of it all they're about me?" Britney nodded.

"You and your realm. The people of Midgard, as you call it, believe we all live in one universe, one solar system. They don't believe in the nine realms like you and I do, it's been my life's work to show them they were wrong." This seemed to please Loki as he chuckled, but it very quickly faded into an unreadable expression.

"You seem like a very smart girl. But riddle me this, maiden, how do you know all of this and not realize what I did in New York a few months ago?" Britney tilted her head in confusion.

"You've been here in New York before? How did no one notice you?" Loki looked a little bewildered and took a step back from her.

"Didn't notice me? I destroyed Stark Tower in front of millions of people! I have killed more people than you can count on your fingers, and I damn well deserve to be remembered for longer than a year! I mean seriously, I came here in an attempt at reconquering, but I had no clue just how pathetic and utterly stupid you all really are!" He ranted, pacing as he did so and attempting not to look at her, disliking the odd feeling he got when he saw her terrified gaze. There was a wetness on her cheek that she didn't want to admit and a pit of fear in her stomach. Attracted as Britney obviously was to him, the rage in his voice coupled with his confession of murder ran her blood cold.

"I-I'm sorry I just….I'm an intern at Fox News, I seriously believe I'd know it if you'd killed that many people a year ago…and Loki…Stark Tower wasn't finished building until about a month ago, there is no way you could have destroyed it." Loki narrowed his eyes.

"That is impossible! This is all impossible, how are you so ignorant?!" He growled in frustration, stalking towards her angrily and raising his hand. Britney screwed her eyes closed and tensed, waiting for the blow that never came. Instead she felt his fingertips gently brushing her tears away and she opened her eyes to see him move close to her ear.

"I would never strike a lady…Midgardian and useless or not." He whispered, sending chills down her spine. He then walked back into the restaurant, to retrieve his brother she assumed, so she followed him.

Thor was talking with Emily, asking her why her restaurant was named after him if she didn't truly even believe he existed.

"That's Britney's thing. We both take the mythology classes, but she's the only one that believes in it. I just take those classes because they're fun, I mean, I'm trying to work my way up to being a chef and taking over the family business, I have no need for that stuff. But I've been into mythology since I was able to read, my dad named this place after you because between the ages seven and eight you were all I talked about." Mr. Brooks, Emily's father, nodded in agreement as she wrapped his hand with some gauze from a first aid kit they found in the back.

"I'm sorry about your hand…" Thor murmured sheepishly, earning a half-way satisfied grunt from Mr. Brooks and a grin from Emily.

"He's fine, don't sweat it." Her eyes grew weary as she saw Britney and Loki reenter through the hole in the wall, not wishing to see the two brother's quarrel again.

"Gunna be nice?" She asked Loki, half serious and half trying to lighten the intense mood he seemed to bring with him. Loki said nothing and the glare he was giving her shut her up quickly.

"Thor, you remember how I destroyed this city last year, yes?" Thor was a little shocked that he was bringing this up in front of the girl he thought he liked, but he nodded.

"Of course I do, though I sincerely wish I didn't. If you hadn't done that I wouldn't have to return you to your cell." Thor sighed, looking up at his brother with a bittersweet smile.

"Yes, well this Midgardian imbecile doesn't know of it, and she's the smartest damn human I've ever had the pleasure of meeting, so if she doesn't know about it then no one else does. I demand to know what you and your little friends have done." Loki's tone was filled with such ice that it made Emily and Mr. Brooks both leave the room to "check on the other employees". Britney flinched and her eyes welled with tears again but she didn't dare move, she wanted to stay and find out why she couldn't remember the hugest story in centuries, why she hadn't known her favorite mythological God had seriously been here before.

"Brother, I swear it to you; I don't know what you mean. I have done nothing, but I agree that it's strange such a large attack on Midgard was so quickly forgotten. When we get home I will investigate." Loki laughed, but it was nowhere close to the flirty laugh Britney had heard him use before. The melodically gentle rapture had twisted into something hideous and frightening.

"Ah, but we aren't going home. No, we are paying Mr. Tony Stark a little visit and then I am going to take what is rightfully mine. If I can't have Asgard I will take this, and they will be thanking me when they realize the things I can do for them." Loki turned on his heel, preparing to storm out with Thor trailing behind him until he realized that Britney was still there.

"I didn't scare you off as well?" Britney shook her head and took a shaky breath.

"Take me with you." Loki's eyebrows shot up.

"Sorry, love, I'll have to show you Asgard some other time, I have more pressing matters to deal with than you and your rather idealistic journalism." Loki tried to walk around her but she stepped in front of him.

"No, I mean take me with you to Mr. Stark's. I want to know why I don't remember just as much as you do. Loki please, this is important to me." Loki gritted his teeth and opened his mouth to say no but then closed it again_. Damn her and her big brown doe eyes. _He thought to himself as he grabbed her wrist and pulled her out the door with him. Emily, becoming concerned for her friend as she watched her be seemingly drug from the restaurant, ran after the three of them.

"Wait! What are you doing to her, stop!" Loki rolled his eyes and only tugged Britney's wrist harder.

"She asked for this." He didn't add that he was only pulling her because he secretly liked the warmth of her skin, and she didn't tell him to stop because she liked the chill of his.

"It's okay, Emily Brooks, he's only doing what she asked. We're all doing to talk to Ironman. Care to join us?" Emily was about to agree when Loki snapped "This is not a fieldtrip!" Thor chuckled and looked over his shoulder at her.

"You can still come, don't mind him." He whispered. Loki climbed into Emily's navy blue mini cooper convertible and pulled Britney onto his lap. She squeaked happily at first and then in surprise when he was rolling her off and into the passenger seat.

"Tell me, woman, how do I work this machinery?" Britney laughed breathlessly.

"Well first of all you need Emily's keys…" Loki turned his head to look at Thor and Emily, Emily glaring at him with her hands on her hips.

"Out. Now. I know how to get to Stark Tower just fine, you and Britney get in the back, Thor, you take Britney's seat." Britney and Loki both grumbled a bit, not liking be exiled to the back of the car, but they complied since they both figured it would get them to their destination faster.

There was a severely awkward silence in the car and no one really knew what to say. Emily was speeding slightly, thinking the sooner they were rid of Loki the better, and Britney was in her own world as usual. She had been thinking about the soft way Loki had brushed the tears from her face, and the flirting, and the pulling of her wrist. It all made her wonder if the bad boy front he was putting up had any truth to it. Sure, he admitted to killing people, but she didn't know the whole story, how did she know he didn't have a misguided reason behind it. Judging from the looks of things she was almost certain he was 95% misunderstood and 5% downright evil…but she could deal with a little evil if it meant she could get to know the real him. She knew enough from her books, she knew there was more to him than met the eye and she was dying to find out everything she could.

"Loki…you should really put on your seatbelt if Emily is going to continue doing 30 over the speed limit." She glanced sideways at her friend but Emily pretended not to hear her. That damned playful smile, which Britney would later learn was his truest smile, was back on his lips.

"And what, fair one, would a seatbelt be?" Britney undid hers and scooted closer to him, reaching over and pulling the long grey fabric toward them. Loki tried not to stare while she was bent over him but was unable to contain his chuckle. She blushed, tightening it around him and buckling him in. Emily hit a speed bump about that time, causing Britney to jolt forward and hit her head on Loki's door. His cool fingertips were once again tenderly touching her face and it made her heart leap up into her throat.

"Are you alright?" She couldn't answer, but nodded at him and quickly climbed back to her own seat. She could feel Loki's eyes on her for a long while after that, but she refused to look at him. She was embarrassed, intrigued, and honestly a little sad because at the end of this little road trip she knew she'd never see him again.

"I really get under your skin, don't I?" She finally looked over at him, returning that painfully playful and unguarded smile, and then shrugged.

"Maybe."

Security was tight at Stark Tower, and that meant that Loki couldn't be seen entering the building. Britney offered to stay behind and work with him on a sly way of sneaking him in while Emily and Thor distracted security out front. Thor went inside to go ahead and request to speak with Tony while Emily acted as if she were lost and inquired to the guards out front where she was.

"Ok, Loki, I think we have a good chance at getting you in if—" Loki snorted.

"Britney." He was giving her a look like she was mad and then flashed her a dashing smile.

"I've got this…if you trust me." Excitement got the best of her and she giggled.

"I trust you." Loki's eyes seemed to get brighter and his smirk grew as wide as it possibly could. He wrapped her arms around him and pulled her to his chest, concentrating his energy on Stark. Before she knew it, Britney was standing in Tony's office with her face buried into the God of Mischief. She really, _really_, didn't want to move, but she could hear two men clearing their throats and another deep chuckle from Loki. When she pulled away she saw an irritated Tony Stark and a mortified Thor.

"Loki I told you to be discreet…" Thor hissed, earning a tight lipped smile from his brother.

"That was discreet as you were going to get." Tony put his head in his hands and groaned.

"Damn it Thor, you said you were here on strictly business but you didn't say you brought your greasy mama's boy with you." Loki sneered.

"As if I'm happy to see a hurt insecure little human that hides from his problems in a metal suit." The tension in the room was almost unbearable as the two stared each other down and Britney and Thor stood around awkwardly, her still in Loki's arm.

"So….about New York…"


	3. Agent Coulson Lives

Tony raised an eyebrow.

"What about it?" Loki rolled his shimmering emerald eyes in annoyance.

"Don't play dumb with us, Stark. No one in this god awful realm can remember what happened here a year ago and we want to know why. This one," He said, pointing to the girl still helplessly clinging to him.

"Thinks that Stark Tower just finished building this month." Tony nodded.

"She's right. After you oh so rudely demolished the last one, we had to completely rebuild…" Thor shook his head.

"No, he means she thinks it was finished building for the first time." Tony's face twisted into confusion but he was unable to respond as there was a knock on the door.

"Mr. Stark…we found a woman wandering around out front and security sent her up. Do you know her?" Tony sighed heavily.

"Michaela, babe, I've told you that you can call me Tony at work, you're my wife after all. And please, bring her in." Thor, who had heard rumors of Tony proposing, grinned and patted Tony on the back.

"I think congratulations are in order. Who would have thought you'd end up marrying one of the civilians we saved last year?" He simply shrugged as a tall slender woman with long straight brunette hair and hazel eyes walked in escorting Emily by her shoulder.

"Ah, I remember you. I think I left you to die near this very tower…pity it didn't work." Loki quipped at the young woman. She practically threw Emily at Thor, stalking towards Loki with hate transforming her delicate features into a sneer.

"Well…I see how it is, I get forgotten about while distracting people downstairs and then thrown carelessly at a God and look, what do you know, it's all Loki's fault, as usual." Emily mumbled to herself, irritated that the world seemed to revolve around him. Thor squeezed her shoulder in comfort and leaned down to whisper "It's okay Emily, I didn't forget you." She blushed but didn't answer, becoming intrigued by the scene before her. Michaela drew her hand back and slapped Loki as hard as she could.

"I have no idea what you are talking about, who you are, or why I'm mad at you, but don't you ever speak to me that way again!" She spat, turning to Tony and crossing her arms.

"Who does he think he is? Is he a friend of yours?" Tony's mouth dropped open and concern immediately flooded his eyes.

"Baby, you have no idea who that is?" Michaela looked over her shoulder at Loki and then back to her husband.

"No, why?" He shook his head as if to clear his thoughts.

"Think really hard, Angel, how did we meet?" She seemed to ponder the question for a few seconds before she looked down at the floor, shame plastered on her face.

"I know this is going to make me sound like a horrible wife but…but I don't remember." He ran one of his rough, calloused hands through his tousled raven hair and looked gravely at Thor.

"You're serious, they really don't remember." Loki rolled his eyes again.

"Way to go Captain Obvious, we've established this, now can we please get some answers?" Normally you would have expected this type of comment from Loki, so naturally when it came out of Britney's mouth everyone's heads snapped in her direction. Loki's arms tightened around her and pride welled inside of him.

"Took the words right out of my mouth." Emily, on the other hand, was horrified at the outburst.

"Britney! That is Ironman you're talking too, God, ever since you met Loki you've just…just irked me!" Loki didn't know why, but that statement pissed him off. Not because she'd made it seem like he'd done something to her friend, but because for some reason these last couple of hours he'd grown fond of the short little nerd girl in his arms, and he was offended for her.

"Excuse me, you pathetic sac of—" Britney gently laid her hand on his arm and shushed him.

"Don't, it's okay. Look, Tony, I'm sorry, but I came here for answers because I am in serious need of starting my career and this is the _only _information in the world that can do that for me. So tell me what you know so I can be out of your hair, and I'll take Loki with me." Tony snorted.

"Good, I can't take much more of that rat; he's ruining the feng shui in this room." Tony pulled out his phone and dialed a number while the rest of them reveled in the awkward silence that had officially followed them from the car. Loki was thinking about what on Earth he was going to do with this Midgardian woman after their departure from here, Britney was trying to devise a plan to prolong Loki's stay, and Emily was staring at Tony's perfectly chiseled abs while Thor and Michaela sulked.

"Agent Phil Coulson will be over shortly…shouldn't take him long. In the meantime, Michaela, would you please go speak with security and ask them how the hell Loki Laufeyson got in this building when their only reason for being hired was to keep him out?" Michaela nodded and Loki smirked sarcastically as she left the room.

"I'm flattered." Loki's comment was left largely ignored as Thor's expression fell and he turned sad eyes to Tony.

"Agent Coulson has perished…" Understanding immediately clicked with Loki as he followed his brother's gaze.

"Wait a minute yes, that's the poor bastard I stabbed with my staff! Between him and your wife, I'd greatly appreciate it if some of my work actually paid off." He grumbled, earning a sympathetic pat from Britney, which in turn got her glared at from everyone else.

"Yeah that's what we all thought, but thankfully S.H.E.I.L.D was able to resuscitate him and send him to recover in Tahiti." Thor grinned.

"Oh that's wonderful; I can't wait to see him!" There was a chuckle from the doorway and they turned to see an older gentleman in a suit with a grin almost as large as Thor's.

"Miss me?" Thor ran towards Phil and scooped him up in a bear hug.

"Son of Coul, you live!" Loki covered his face with his hand and both Britney and Emily let out giggles. Thor put Phil down and he walked toward Tony.

"What can I do you for, Mr. Stark?" Tony gestured a hand lazily at Loki.

"No one remembers the attack on this city Loki launched roughly thirteen months ago, no one but Loki himself and Thor and I that we can tell. We want to know why. Do the rest of The Avenger's remember? Do you?" Phil never missed a beat and his reply was cagey.

"Yes." They all waited for more, but it was slowly becoming obvious that this wasn't going to be as easy as they had initially thought.

"Yes what?" Tony finally asked in frustration.

"Yes, the rest of The Avenger's remember, and yes, I do. S.H.E.I.L.D remembers everything and knows everything, that's all I am at liberty to say." Loki counted in his head the hours that he had been in Midgard. He'd spent one at the restaurant, two on the car ride over here and this dreadfully long trip to Stark Tower was causing what had been three hours on Midgard to be three and a half, and that was much too long with nothing accomplished for his liking.

"As fun as this all is, it's getting me nowhere. Tell me why they don't remember before I reacquaint you with my staff, and this time it's going straight up your rectum." Phil only smiled.

"You go right ahead, Loki. Not only will you not gain the answers you seek, but you'll be short a staff, and have S.H.E.I.L.D after you faster than you can say Asgard." Loki cackled, letting go of Britney for the first time since the two of them had left the car.

"Asgard." He replied shortly, his staff materializing in his hand as he swung it at Phil's head. Phil was knocked unconscious and Loki quickly took his form and grabbed Britney by her wrist.

"Time for us to go." She didn't have time to think, only follow what now looked like Agent Coulson as he ran out of the room and down the hall to the nearest closet, shutting them in there. He repeated his actions from the car, wrapping her arms around his waist and concentrating very hard. This time, they ended up at the nearest S.H.E.I.L.D base and he smirked at her, although it didn't have near the same effect when he was disguised as a middle aged man.

"We're going to get the knowledge we seek, I promise you that. Since we have a common goal, I need you to help me. Do we understand each other?" Britney nodded, earning another smirk from the God.

"Damn it to hell…" He suddenly whispered, catching sight of Thor and Emily.

"Britney, you said earlier that you trusted me, did you mean it?" She nodded again.

"Good. So you'll understand when I ask you to lie to your friend. Tell her I left you here in a rage, tell her you pissed me off somehow and I disappeared, anything like that, but I'm not here, do you understand me?" Britney wanted to say no but she was pressed for time and was eager for him to trust her in return, so she nodded as he once again changed forms. Emily and Thor spotted her quickly and ran to her.

"Oh thank God he hasn't hurt you, where did he go?" Britney's heart was pounding in her chest and guilt was already eating her alive. This was her best friend, she'd been her best friend for eleven years, was she really going to betray her for the trust of a man she'd only known for going on four hours? Noticing the tears gathering in Britney's eyes, Loki, who was now disguised as Agent Maria Hill, realized that what he'd asked her to do was hurting her. _You don't care, Loki. You don't care. _He tried to convince himself of this, but the moment she choked out "I upset him" he returned to Phil's form and grabbed her by her waist.

"It's okay, Britney, I'm not upset anymore, I'm right here." He was just going to have to deal with his brother because those damned eyes of hers had done it again.

"Loki this is madness, what are you doing here?" Thor demanded.

"Look, I'm simply doing the same thing we were doing at Stark's. Once I find out what's going on and why people don't remember, I'll leave and let Agent what's his face return to his pathetic excuse for an identity. I like my real body better anyway. So you can either help me and help us all, or expose me and ruin Britney's life. Take your pick." Loki explained, a small smile tugging at his lips as he felt Britney's breath hitch.

"Brother, don't pretend like you're doing this for her. It's unfair to make her believe she's anything more to you than what she is when everything you're doing here is for yourself. And why, might I add? Why does it matter that they don't remember? Can't you just leave well enough alone?" Loki grimaced.

"No, brother, I can't. If they don't remember then they don't fear me, and if they don't fear me they don't know their place. Their place is to kneel before me and they are not doing so, I aim to fix that. And as for the girl, don't tell me what I feel and what I don't because you know nothing of my feelings." He spat, feeling a twinge of regret as he watched the light behind Thor's eyes dim. He knew nothing hurt his brother more than accusing him of being anything less than a good brother.

"Loki….fine. Have it your way, I'll help you get in to talk to the director, okay? Just promise me you'll behave yourself." Loki chuckled.

"Glad we understand each other. Now, if we're all going to work together we're going to have to trust each other, yes? That means you." He stated flatly, narrowing his eyes at Emily. She didn't respond, only huffed in annoyance and turned to Thor.

"Well, I have to pee, so this whole team building thing is going to have to wait." About that time, Colonel Fury walked up behind them.

"Agent Coulson, please escort this woman to the restroom. Thor, what do I owe the pleasure?" Loki gritted his teeth, wanting so badly to tell him where to shove it. That damned woman had to ruin everything, if his brother didn't seem so helplessly smitten by her he'd have offed her ages ago.

"Come with me miss." He spat through barred teeth, causing Emily nothing but absolute joy. She smiled her cheeriest smile.

"Thank you, Agent." She linked her arm in Loki's and they started toward the other end of the building, leaving Britney and Thor alone with Fury.

"I need to talk to you about Loki's ambush on New York." Fury looked hesitantly from Thor to Britney and then back again.

"And why did you come to do so with two unfamiliar women with you?" Thor shrugged and flashed a brilliant smile.

"Well, the maiden your agent is with is my…female person of interest, and this here is her sister. They are um…scientists, if you will. They seek the same information I do, and I promise you they are good at keeping secrets. I've had them sitting on Asgard's most prized secrets for years." Britney didn't know why, but she was surprised that he was able to lie like that, that was Loki's thing. But she admired the lengths that he was willing to go to to prove to his brother that he really did care about him. Admirable as his actions were, Fury didn't seem convinced.

"Thor, you know how top secret this all is, I'm afraid I can't do what you ask." Thor laid one of his large hands on the director's shoulder.

"When I have I ever lied to you?" Fury seemed to ponder it for a moment and then sighed.

"Follow me." He led the two of them down a few seemingly never ending hallways until they finally made it to what appeared to be a makeshift office.

"Please make this quick though, I have important things to do." Thor looked to Britney for help, but she could only mouth "Keep Loki out of this and we're fine."

"I need to know why the people of Midgard don't remember what happened to them, to this city. I wake up one day and my…woman doesn't remember anything of it, why is that? Did you think we wouldn't notice?" Britney had to stifle a laugh. Had Thor seriously just referred to Emily as his woman?

"They remember what they need to remember, alright? We took away the bad memories, is there something wrong with that?" Britney cleared her throat in an attempt to both be assertive and remind the two men that she was still there.

"We need to know why." Fury shot her a rather intense stare and she looked down at her feet.

"And why is that, Miss…" He trailed off.

"Erhardt." She prompted.

"Miss Erhardt." She might have been a little less nervous if Thor hadn't been staring at her too, and now that she knew she'd lost his train of thought she was completely on her own.

"Because I'm not an idiot, Colonel Fury, I know S.H.E.I.L.D had ulterior motives behind wiping the entire city's memory, it wasn't out of the kindness of your hearts." Fury smiled, catching both Britney and Thor completely off guard.

"Where did you find this one? She's feisty…makes me wonder if I ought to hire her. To answer your question, it was to protect you all from Loki. We know things, Miss Erhardt. We know that Asgard more than likely isn't take the precautions necessary to keep him locked up and we know he's planning an escape. We don't want him to have the upper hand when he does, the _fear. _The moment he arrives, we'll be ready and armed, and Asgard won't get him back this time, mark my words." He looked at Thor as he spoke these last words, his dark eyes filled with unspoken promises. Britney smirked inwardly, knowing that even without the fear; Loki still had the upper hand. He had managed to get here without S.H.E.I.L.D detecting him and she wasn't one hundred percent sure why, but she knew she wanted to help him keep it that way. She held her head high, swallowing her fear and focusing on trying to help Loki in any way possible.

"Can I ask you one more question then, Sir?" Fury checked his watch and sighed.

"Hurry." Thor was making it rather clear to Britney that her last question was a step too far, too dangerous, his eyes were begging her to just shut up and walk away. But this wasn't just for Loki, this was for her, and she wasn't leaving here without her answer.

"How did you do it?"


	4. SHEILD and Sorrow

Fury rose and walked briskly at Britney, stopping an inch in front of her face.  
"And why in the world would you want to know that?" She widened her eyes and put on the most innocent face possible, if it worked on the God of Mischief surely it would work on this control freak. `  
"I'm a scientist, Colonel Fury. It's purely part of my research." Thor nodded as if to back me up but it was obvious that this discussion was over.  
"I'm sorry; Thor, Miss Erhardt, but I can't disclose any more information." Thor grabbed Britney's hand and pulled her roughly towards the door.  
"Thank you Director. It was kind of you to clear that up for us." Thor hastily yanked the door open and they exited, eager to flee the scrutiny of Fury's gaze. Fury picked up a walkie-talkie from his desk and pressed the button on the side.  
"Don't let Thor or anyone in his party exit the facility. Take them to the interrogation room, especially the short blonde woman, she's a problem."  
Meanwhile, Loki was going absolutely mad waiting for Emily to come out of the restroom. He paced out front and kept checking his (Actually Phil's) watch periodically to confirm that she was taking longer than he deemed necessary. His mind was wandering to his brother and maiden…neither of the two were the brightest crayons in the box, and he was worried they were ruining things for him.  
"God, you Midgardian piece of—" He trailed off as he noticed several other passing agents staring at him.  
"Emily, dear, would you please hurry up." He grumbled, emphasizing each word heavily. Emily was snickering to herself inside her bathroom stall, taking longer than usual on purpose. Four hours had been long enough for her to decide that she didn't like him or what he was doing to her friend.  
"I'm sorry Phil; you should have known better than to take me to Taco Bell on our first date." That message was received loud and clear outside the bathroom and several passersby burst into laughter. Loki was about to bang his head into a wall.  
I hate her, I hate her, I hate her.  
It didn't take longer than a good ten minutes for Britney and Thor to be completely surrounded. S.H.E.I.L.D agents were lined up left and right, armed and ready.  
"I was trying to tell you this was a bad idea!" Thor bellowed. Britney rolled her eyes.  
"Don't you get it? This is all part of my plan." She hissed back, hoping the agents hadn't heard her.  
"Plan? Dear Asgard, please tell me my brother hasn't put you up to anything stupid…" Britney didn't respond, angry that he seemed to think she was incapable of forming her own plans, that she must have gotten this all from Loki.  
I'll show you. I'll show all of you, and then it will be Loki's turn to be impressed. She thought to herself.  
"Let them take us, don't resist." She whispered, nodding in approval as Thor lowered his hammer and allowed them both to be put in handcuffs. They were seized as if they were war criminals, drug roughly through twists and turns, on a seemingly never ending journey to what was surely a form of purgatory. They were brought to a large bleach white room, the only color in the room being the silver of the titanium door and chairs. There were only two chairs, and once seated they had their arms pulled over the backs of their seats, making them practically immobile.  
"We will return with The Director shortly." They were then locked in, no way out and no hope of contacting Loki and Emily. Thor tried to summon his hammer, but he couldn't gather his concentration, questions for the girl beside him swirling in his head.  
"What was the point of all this? Honestly, I know this wasn't all for my brother." Thor's tone and gaze were both so gentle that it broke Britney's heart. She knew she didn't deserve for him to be nice to her.  
"T-Thor I…I'm sorry. I have a plan to both get us out of here and get the information I need, I promise you. I just…my family is waiting on me to make something of myself. I promised my dad after my mom left that I'd go on to do something great, I'd fix it all. But with what I decided to go into…I can't do that without your help. I need proof that these other worlds exist, Thor. And I'm so sorry that in order to do it I got you into trouble but…I deluded myself into believing it was okay because Loki would benefit from it too." Thor was quiet for a few moments, his eyes softening into an even deeper blue than before.  
"You really like my brother, don't you?" Britney could no longer speak, still wounded by the tenderness she in no way was worthy of, but nodded. Thor chuckled gently.  
"You needn't try so hard, Britney. Loki likes you, I can tell, and he likes you for you, not for what he can gain from you. For Loki that's a major accomplishment. I mean, you will surely have to wait a long time for any sort of conformation that he feels for you, you've only known him for a few short hours. But trust me, he does like you. As for the pressure you have to make your father proud…Loki carries that too. You two have more in common than either of you probably realize. It's cute." He teased. Her tears finally spilled over.  
"Thor…" He smiled apologetically at her.  
"Listen; there are other ways to gain what you seek. You and Loki both seem to need a lesson in that, but since we're already in this mess, I'll help you, okay?" She grinned at him, attempting to dry her tears without her hands.  
"Thank you. I can see what Emily likes about you." Thor adverted his eyes to his lap and his smile grew wider.  
"You really think she likes me?" Britney giggled.  
"Thor, sweetie, she's never given a boy the time of day the way she does with you." Thor didn't answer, but he didn't have to. The happiness was clearly plastered on his face, and it warmed Britney's heart. It wasn't long after that that Fury entered the room.  
"Follow my lead." She whispered quickly, earning a swift nod from the God.  
"Right behind you."  
When Fury had ordered that no one let Thor out of the building, S.H.E.I.L.D went completely on lock down. Emily had just walked out of the restroom when an alarm sounded and Phil's walkie-talkie projected Fury's voice. Loki pushed Emily back into the ladies room shamelessly and blew a gust of ice from his mouth, freezing the door and sealing them inside.  
"What the hell?" Emily demanded as Loki returned to his own form and narrowed those perfect green eyes.  
"What? Did you want me to let them seize you? My oaf of a brother and your little blonde friend obviously got each other caught; it's not safe for you out there." Emily raised an eyebrow.  
"You should pay more attention to the girl you like. Her hair is brown." Loki scoffed.  
"It is not! Her hair is the color of the finest gold in Asgard, it's like someone captured the sun and melted it into a goddess. And I do not like her; she is simply useful to me." Emily put her hands on her hips.  
"Oh sure, you don't like your little golden sun goddess in the slightest. Which by the way is not her true hair color. It's dyed, Loki, her hair is brown." Loki simply grumbled and took a seat in the cleanest looking corner of the bathroom.  
"May as well sit down, we're going to be here for a while." Emily took a seat beside Loki, although she could think of many different people she'd rather be trapped with.  
"Why are we staying here and not looking for Thor and Britney?" Loki sighed.  
"What a lovely way to blow my cover that would be, wouldn't it? Just poof in and say hi? I don't think so; I can't let these people know I'm here. Thor and Britney got themselves into this mess and they're going to have to get themselves out of it. I'm not their babysitter." Emily was about to object, before she realized that this would probably be a good opportunity to find out what her friend thought was so great about this douche-bag.  
"So…um, just out of my curiosity, why do you hate me?" Loki turned to face her, genuinely surprised.  
"You think I hate you?" Emily laughed bitterly.  
"You haven't made such a secret of it." Loki rolled his eyes.  
"Well for starters, you're incredibly annoying and you have a sense of self-righteousness that rivals my father's…but I don't hate you. I think Thor finally met his match. I don't particularly like you, but he does, and if you are going to be with my brother there is no sense in hating—" Emily held her hand up faster than lightening.  
"Whoa whoa whoa, who said anything about me being with your brother? I've known the dude for a grand total of four hours." Loki's lips curled back into a smirk.  
"Ah, you're more like me I suppose. Slow and steady wins the race?" Emily nodded adamantly and Loki chuckled.  
"Thor's not wired that way, my dear. I give it a week before he's asking you to go steady, but don't worry. Saying no and that you need more time isn't going to ruin anything; my brother is a very understanding person. He'd back off immediately and slow things down. He's a really good choice I'd say, once you got to know him of course." Emily smiled.  
"Careful, Loki, your humanity is showing." Loki scoffed at her once more, but the playfulness never left his eyes, prompting her to keep talking.  
"Britney is like that too. She moves a little on the fast side, but she'd never do anything she knew would make you uncomfortable. No matter how long you need, she'll give it to you. That's just the type of person she is. She falls easy and is hurt even easier, so I swear to the Gods if you hurt her, you'll have me to answer to." And just like that the playfulness that had been written all over him drained away into a completely unreadable expression.  
Oh but that's the problem. Loki thought to himself. I would hurt her.  
Back in the Interrogation room, Fury was staring almost ashamedly at Thor.  
"Well that didn't take very long. I expected you to at least try to escape." Thor gave the director his best confused face.  
"Sir, I'm afraid I don't understand. Why would I try to escape? I know not what I even did." Fury paced between the two chairs, hands behind his back and his face expressionless.  
"Thor, even if you didn't mean any harm, which I don't actually believe you did, I really don't, she did." He said, pointing at her with a stubby finger.  
Come on Britney, this is your shot. She thought as she tried to imagine the saddest thing in the word. Thoughts of her mother filled her mind and the tears came easily, looking pleadingly up at Fury.  
"P-Please, what have I done? I just wanted to finish my scientific research, I-I wasn't going to tell anybody." Her lip quivered and sobs were ripping through her chest so hard that it even startled Thor.  
"Fury I promise you, she is the most trustworthy human I have ever met. Understanding how mind control affects the brain is the only thing she cares to know. If she knows how you were able to take away an entire city's memory, it could finally help her understand her life's work. Sir, please, you have my word that she'd never publish the secret, only her final thesis on how it all in general affects the human mind. I brought her with me to simply help her; you know I'd never betray you. Or at least I thought you knew." He added bitterly, pleased with himself when he saw Fury's expression waver.  
"I swear to you, Thor, if you are lying to me, you will not only be kicked out of the Avenger's, but I will personally see to it that you share a nice cozy cell with your brother." Thor never broke eye contact and managed to keep a poker face.  
"You have my word." He repeated. Fury sighed very heavily, resting his eye for a moment and very obviously attempting to talk himself out of it.  
"Tony Stark was making a machine with some blue prints I gave him, but he only got half way finished with it before he found out what it was for and told me he wouldn't do it. He didn't believe taking away any persons memory was right, said it was an invasion of privacy. So he trashed it, and I had Agent Hill secretly retrieve it and once it was finished we wiped his memory of ever having built any of it. You happy? In order to help you with your research I would have to know how the machine was made, and I wasn't involved with that. Are we done here?" Britney sniffled and looked pathetically from Fury to Thor.  
"I j-just wanna go home." Thor nodded.  
"We're done, thank you." Fury undid the hand-cuffs and Thor extended his hand for him to take. They shook on the promises sworn only a few moments earlier and as Britney and Thor were heading toward the door they over-heard Fury use his walkie-talkie once more to tell everyone they were free to go.  
The walkie-talkie piped up in the bathroom and Loki smirked.  
"Well what do you know…they did it." Emily looked thoroughly impressed.  
"I wasn't sure they had it in them." Loki simply chuckled and shifted back into Agent Coulson and grabbing his own walkie-talkie.  
"Thor, would you please come and pick up your lady from the bathroom? Thank you." Emily raised an eyebrow.  
"And we couldn't have just went and found them why?" Loki looked sheepishly at the floor.  
"Because well…someone needs to break the ice off of the door."  
Once everyone was back in the car in one piece and Loki was back to looking like himself again, the silence was a little more comfortable. No one ever did talk however until Emily pulled into hers and Britney's driveway.  
"Britney and I have been living together since college…this is home." She announced, smiling at everyone as she took the keys out of the ignition and went to go unlock the front door. Both Thor and Emily went inside, but Britney pulled Loki off to the side of the house.  
"I found out what we need to know." She gushed, not quite understanding why his expression was so pained. He said nothing and she took it was an invitation to keep talking.  
"Fury had Stark build a machine to erase everyone's memory but he stopped midway through construction and they stole it from him. Once they had it finished they made him forget they'd even asked him to do it and I'm assuming they have it hidden inside that base. The amazing thing is that maybe if we snoop around Stark Tower some more we can find the original blue print, and if we do that we can come up with a way to build a machine that reverses the effects. What do you think?" What did Loki think? Loki thought that she was brilliant; he thought that she was the only girl in the world that cared enough to try and help him, the only one smart enough to help him. He thought that she was beautiful, and funny in her own little Midgardian way. But most of all he thought that the moment he let himself care about her the world would just come crashing down and he didn't know if he could survive that. He knew that out of all the people in this miserable little realm, she was the one he didn't want to hurt. And so he made his decision right then and there.  
"I think that…I'm going to do that on my own. Thanks for the help but, I'm done here." He started to walk away before she grabbed for his arm.  
"Loki wait…I, I thought maybe we could figure this out together. We make a good team you and I." He could see her heart breaking in her eyes, but he jerked his arm away roughly.  
"Why would I want to work with a pathetic Midgardian quim who is too naive for her own good? You served your purpose and now you are disposable, did you really think I kept you around for anything more? Grow up, you aren't Cinderella, and I am definitely not anyone's Prince Charming." He growled, briskly walking into the woods behind their apartment and not bothering to look back.


	5. Friday the Thirteenth

It had been a good three weeks since Loki had left. Emily and Thor's relationship was blossoming before Britney's eyes and it only made her sadder. She was happy for her friend, she really was, but in all honesty the two of them were making her awfully lonely. The night Loki walked into those woods her first instinct and been to run into her best friends arms and sob, which is what she did, and Emily spent the entire night comforting her. However, Emily's sympathy only extended so far, and by the beginning of the second week her friend could no longer understand why she hadn't moved on.  
It was Friday the Thirteenth, and although usually people saw this as an unlucky day, Britney had always found it the opposite, as Friday the Thirteenth was one of her favorite scary movies. She woke up and stretched, pulling her hot pink comforter to her chin and rolling over to look at her deep indigo teddy bear, whom she'd named Jeremy when she was sixteen years old.  
"Today's going to be a good day, Jere. Emily and I are going to pop in the Jason movies as always, and I am not going to think about…him. Emily's right, it's ridiculous that I'm still stuck on him anyway, it'd only been a day." She got up and brushed the knots out of her long pale blonde hair, pulling it into a high pony tail and tugging on her favorite Classic Smoke Heather Multi-Way Tunic Cashmere sweater from Victoria's Secret. Slipping on some ribbed leggings of the same color and a pair of ballet flats, she made her bed and walked from her bedroom to Emily's.  
Emily was laying on her bed with Thor, him in his usual armor and red cape and her in ripped Hot Topic jeans and a black lace-trim camisole. Thor grinned at her the moment she entered.  
"You look absolutely stunning, Britney, this is a major improvement from the worn pink and gray nightshirt and old sweat pants you've been wearing for a week straight. Does someone have a date?" Emily snorted.  
"No, she wears that outfit a lot, best damn sixty bucks I ever spent on a Christmas present. She probably only changed because she couldn't stand her own lady-stink anymore." Britney folded her arms.  
"Don't give Thor the impression that I don't change clothes regularly. I only haven't recently because I've been…well you know, and I wear this more often than the rest of my clothes, yes, but I am a cleanly person." She grumbled, still not in the mood for much of the taunting her friend liked to poke at her. Now just wasn't the time. Thor chuckled.  
"It's okay, maiden, I've been in love, I understand." Emily rolled her eyes.  
"We have been through this, she isn't in love with him, she doesn't know him." Britney agreed with part of that, yeah, she didn't know him. That didn't stop her from agonizing over what could have been though, she had really liked him.  
"You don't believe in love at first sight?" Emily tried to keep a smile off her face at his question.  
"You know I don't." He laid one of his large hands on her knee and gently pressed his lips against her neck.  
"Yeah? Because I think you're a liar." Emily couldn't help the giggle that escaped her lips and the sight of it all made Britney cringe. All she could think about was how Loki's hand had felt on her wrist that day and what those perfect lips might feel like…  
"So um, Emily, are we watching Friday the Thirteenth or not?" Emily's eyes lit up.  
"Oh! I didn't realize that was today. I'd love too if that's okay with Thor." Thor shrugged.  
"I'm not sure what this is, but if you like it I'm sure I will too." Britney wasn't so sure about that, but didn't argue.  
"Let's go to the living room then." Thor chuckled.  
"Why? We're already so comfortable here." Thor got up and pulled Britney onto the bed with them, wedging her in the middle.  
"Now we can commence this…movie, as you call it." Emily burst into laughter and turned on the DVD player. Britney really hoped this was going to be okay, she didn't think Thor's first movie should be anything like this. The opening credits rolled and there was a sequence with a bunch of teenagers around a campfire.  
"So do these people live in this box?" Thor whispered. Britney smiled for the first time since Loki left.  
"No, Thor. This is just a box that projects things that people have pretended to do in front of a camera. None of it's real." Thor seemed a little comforted by this as two of the Camp Counselors began to have sex after sneaking away from the others. He only seemed to get more and more horrified as the male teenager told what appeared to be no one that they were just fooling around.  
"Who is he talking to? Oh…holy mother of bifrost what has slain him?" Both Emily and Britney slowly but surely turned to look at him. They just watched in amusement as his eyes widened and he summoned his hammer.  
"Someone has to help that maiden…" Emily reached across Britney and gently touched his hand.  
"You can't help her, Thor. This is stuff that's already been acted out, it won't change." Thor gripped her hand in return.  
"You mean she's already dead…" Seeing the sad look that manifested in his eyes just about killed Emily, so she gently kissed his cheek.  
"It's okay, it's not real, I promise." Thor's sad pout quickly turned into a beam. He gazed at Emily for a few seconds before entwining his fingers in her hair and capturing her lips with his. Emily scooted as close as she could with Britney's body between them, deepening the kiss and fingering at the scruff on his face. Britney couldn't take this, not the kissing, or the cuddling, or anything else. She lay back as far as she could and slowly scooted herself off the bed and into the floor. Neither Thor nor Emily noticed as Britney quietly ran back to her room and flung herself at Jeremy.  
"I was wrong…I was so wrong." She cried, pulling her stuffed animal into her arms and burying her face into her pillow.  
Loki was walking aimlessly around the wooded area behind Emily and Britney's apartment, trying and failing to think of his plans for this new machine. In these last three weeks he'd been breaking into Tony's periodically and ransacking the place looking for blue prints, but he'd had no such luck. The place was just too damn big and as much as he hated to admit it, he needed help. He had been sleeping out in their woods, never truly able to leave Britney. This was his way of protecting her, this way she was 100% safe. The only problem was that her being 100% safe was making them both absolutely miserable. She probably hates me…but I truly do need her help. He thought to himself, giving up on trying to convince himself that it was better this way. He walked to the back of their house, still trying to think up a plan that would be most likely to ease her anger at him. What he wasn't expecting was to peer through her window and see her curled up on her bed, crying her heart out.  
Surely it's not over me. He thought, but he knew it was no use in telling himself that.  
Way to go Loki, you did exactly what you were trying to shield her from. He closed his eyes and concentrated his magic on her, teleporting into her room in a matter of seconds. His heart broke as he watched her bawl, her delicate body shaking and the eyes he loved so much full of nothing but hurt.  
"Why do you weep, Fair one?" She shot up quickly, wiping her tears on her sweater sleeve.  
"Loki…you came back." He smirked.  
"Of course I did, I couldn't just leave a damsel in distress." Looking at this gorgeous, incredibly damaged man and hearing what he had to say after abandoning her for three weeks, something inside Britney snapped. She approached him slowly at first, stopping an inch away and throwing all of her strength into a good slap. Loki just blinked for a few seconds and then laughed. It wasn't his cold laugh, it was that laugh that she only ever heard when they were alone. The one that sounded like the song of an angel, and it almost dissipated her anger completely.  
"Two slaps in the same month, I'm on a role." The tears started again and Britney shook her head in disbelief.  
"Why? Why would you leave me here all by myself to watch your brother close the distance between Emily and him, to wallow in the fact that I'd never get to find out if we would be doing the same by now or if things never would have worked out…" She trailed off and Loki was more than a little surprised.  
"Is that what all the tears were about? You thought you'd never get to find out whether or not there was anything here?" He asked, gesturing between them. He wasn't surprised that this is why she was crying, no, he's suspected that. He was surprised that the soft-spoken girl he'd met almost a month ago had actually had the gall to admit it out loud.  
"Sweet maiden, there was something there from the moment we locked eyes, and I know you know it. If there had been nothing, you wouldn't be crying and I wouldn't be apologizing." Britney backed away and folded her arms.  
"No, you can't just expect me to accept your apology. It's like my mother all over again, you think you can just disappear over and over and an apology is always going to make it okay." Loki put a hand on each side of her waist and pulled her tightly against him.  
"Is that what your mother did to you? She left you?" Britney nodded.  
"The worst part of it is that Thor said you'd gone through something similar…And yet you left me anyway." Loki kissed her forehead and pulled back just enough to look her in the eyes.  
"I didn't do what I did to hurt you; you have to trust me on that. I'm not the good guy, Britney, this is exactly what I was trying to prevent." Understanding suddenly hit her like a ton of bricks.  
"You were trying to protect me…from you." Loki didn't answer, he just stared at her, not exactly sure what to do or say. Both of them were unconsciously moving in closer and Loki knew that this had to stop. He wanted to kiss her, he wanted to let himself to fall in love with her, but the rational side of him was sending out warnings that it was too dangerous. He hardly knew this girl, he wanted to trust her but it was foolish to do so blindly and he knew that he had to get to honestly know her before he'd fully allow this.  
Never worry, He thought as a dashing smile graced his lips. I can get to know her while we're robbing Stark of some papers.  
"Help me find those blue prints. As much as I hate to admit defeat, I need you more than I originally thought." Britney laughed. She was still mad and hurt, and more than a little upset that they had stopped short of kissing, but she was happy to be in on his plan once again. She shot him her own little mischievous smile and threatened him with her eyes.  
"I hope you know that more than an apology and a kiss on the forehead are needed to win me over." Loki returned the look, sending chills down Britney's spine.  
"Oh I figured, but you're still going to help me find those prints. The rest comes later." He whispered into her ear hotly, adoring the affect it obviously had on her body. He then walked from the room to find Emily and Thor, expecting Britney to follow him. He found neither of them in the living room and he turned to Britney to ask her where they might have gone. It wasn't until then that he really noticed her outfit and the way the sweater draped off her shoulders and her sun-shinny hair cascaded from her high pony tail to the base of her neck.  
"You're so…um, where is Emily's chambers?" Britney blushed.  
"Down the hall to your left." The pair awkwardly made their way to Emily's bedroom only to stop dead in their tracks at what they found when Loki opened the door. Thor was buried into Emily's side, clutching her for dear life as a girl was getting murdered in the bathroom on the movie. Loki burst into tearful laughter.  
"Oh brother, how the mighty have fallen."


	6. Kittens and Kisses

"You!" Emily growled, hopping off the bed and throwing her fist in Loki's face.  
"Ugh, that makes three; you Midgardian women are so temperamental! And here I thought you and I had made amends." Emily crossed her arms furiously.  
"Yeah well that was before you crushed my best friend, I warned you that she was fragile!" Loki reached out and stroked the side of Britney's face.  
"I think she's a lot stronger than anyone gives her credit for." Emily wasn't listening as she smacked his hand away.  
"Don't touch her!" Britney shot her friend a thankful look but shook her head.  
"It's okay, Emily. He and I are…working on things." Emily's face turned beet red and she looked as if she were about to pull her hair out.  
"Working on things? Excuse me, but who was here drying your tears all month while he's been off doing God only knows what kind of horrible…" Loki cut her off.  
"Only breaking and entering, thank you, not anything too dreadful." She rolled her eyes.  
"Oh great well, I suppose you're now going to be forcing my best friend into barging into people's houses unannounced as well?" Loki almost looked ashamed…almost.  
"Forced is a strong word." Thor got up and put a hand on her shoulder.  
"Let him be, Emily, he's obviously made it right by Britney." For a moment Britney and Loki both thought Emily's head was about to spin all the way around like the exorcist. For the split second that she was glaring daggers at only Thor, Loki grabbed Britney and she knew what was coming. They noiselessly teleported from Emily's bedroom to somewhere in Stark Tower.  
"This is one of the many libraries…one of the only ones I haven't already torn to pieces looking for these damn blueprints. This is why I need your help, that and, I thought the alone time would be a good start at closing the distance, as you put it." The blush creeping up Britney's face did not go unnoticed and Loki felt his own face grow a little warm. He wasn't exactly sure how to open up, even though he wanted too. He was definitely not used to or very good at all at expressing his feelings. They tore through book shelf after book shelf in silence for a while before Britney finally decided to try and break the ice.  
"So um…if you don't mind me asking, what exactly did Thor mean when he said you'd gone through something similar?" Loki did mind, he really didn't want to talk about it, but he'd promised her that they'd get to know each other, so he sighed heavily and grudgingly turned to look at her.  
"My real parents left me to die on Jotunheim, discarded me like a piece of garbage during a full blown war. Odin found me and took me back to Asgard with him and raised me in an attempt to bring peace between his people and the Jotun's, and he didn't even bother to tell me until I found out on my own when a Frost Giant touched me and my arm turned blue. I don't think he was ever going to tell me…" Britney's heart ached for him and she reached out to gently touch his hand.  
"I'm so sorry." Her touch and words comforted Loki in a way that he couldn't vocalize, so he only smiled and nodded in her direction.  
"Mythology never said all of that. Only that you were of Jotunheim, and I assumed when we met that they had it wrong when I heard you call Thor your brother and took notice that your skin was the wrong color." Loki laughed bitterly.  
"Of course they left it out, who wants to hear about some pathetic child whose father didn't want him at birth because he was weak and sickly?" Britney turned away from Loki and back to her work, unable to bear the pain etched into his features.  
"If it makes you feel any better, my mother was gone more than she was present and on the occasions that she was actually around she was drunk and abusive. Then she ran off with husband number four when I was twelve and I haven't seen or heard from her since." Loki shuddered a bit and it caught Britney completely off guard.  
"That doesn't make me feel better, that makes me furious. You shouldn't have had to live like that." Britney shrugged as she pulled out yet another large heap of Tony's junk to sift through.  
"And you shouldn't have had to grow up in Thor's shadow. You're everything a king should be, intelligent, brave, rational. I think you'd have been an excellent ruler, whereas Thor reacts solely on his emotions and nothing else. He's too impulsive to be king." Something about Loki changed when she said that, some of the sadness in his eyes seemed to lift and Britney swore she could see a hint of the first non-sarcastic or smirk-like smile of Loki's life. He opened his mouth to say something but was interrupted by Britney's squeals that she was having to muffle with her hand, as not to get them caught.  
"I found it!" It had been well hidden in Stark's twelfth library in the fourth row of books shoved inside a copy of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, but she'd managed to find it. That ghost of a non-sarcastic smile on Loki's face broadened and he peered at the print from over her shoulder.  
"This is utterly fantastic, thank you." He said as he took the blue print from her to get a closer look, and for the first time in a very long time he truly meant it. Britney was elated, the genuine thank you gave her goose bumps, and she was very thankful that she'd actually been able to help him. He folded it a few times and stuck it in his armor.  
"We'll look over it more when we get back to your chambers, and from there we can try to devise our own reverse blue prints. Now we need to clean up and get out of here." Britney nodded in agreement and attempted to reach for her bag on the other side of Loki, and when Loki tried to help her pull it up she fell forward and their lips briefly brushed. Britney pulled back and retrieved her bag as quickly as possible, unable to look at Loki's face any longer for her own was turning purple.  
"Oh God I'm so sorry!" Only seconds later she was feeling Loki's hands forcing her face back towards his, his eyes melted pools of emerald that were for the first time unguarded.  
"Don't be…" He pulled her forward a little bit further, his lips moving against hers softly at first, cautiously. She opened her mouth to him and he slipped his tongue in, exploring her to his heart's content. It almost surprised Loki how right this felt to him, this girl felt like home, which was something he'd never truly had. That being said, he became a little more desperate with his kisses, biting at her bottom lip as she tugged lightly on his lush obsidian locks. They became so caught up in it all, the way it felt, the way they needed each other, that they didn't even notice when someone else entered the room.  
"Excuse me, but what the hell are you two doing in here?" Britney couldn't seem to find her voice, looking to Loki for help, who was also a bit breathless.  
"Michaela, yes? What does it look like we were doing? I was going to copulate with her in your library. We were kicked out of our apartment." He flashed a mischievous smirk and Britney about died beside him, which she was sure was why his smirk was only growing. Michaela, however, wasn't amused in the slightest.  
"Get out of my house! I'm calling Tony…" Loki through his head back in a laugh.  
"That's wonderful; I need to speak with him, actually." Britney smiled apologetically at her.  
"I'm sorry…um; we really do need to talk to your husband, that's why we're here." Michaela nodded but rolled her eyes.  
"Really? I thought you were here to screw." She muttered flatly, earning another laugh from Loki as she pulled out her phone and called Tony.  
Meanwhile, Emily had taken a vow of silence back at the apartment, not exactly the happiest with Thor as he'd been trying relentlessly since Britney and Loki left to get her to see his brothers side of things. Emily didn't want to see Loki's side of things, she'd tried that and it'd only allowed her friend to get hurt. She was in her bedroom once again, watching Friday the Thirteenth part 2, deciding to continue the marathon by herself and had locked Thor out. Having gotten rather lonely in the short twenty minutes that Emily had banished him from her sleeping quarters; Thor ventured out of the house and went to get her something special. Flowers were too common for his Emily, and as he understood it chocolate was meant for Valentine's Day, so Thor was pretty lost as to what he should buy her.  
It would be helpful if Loki's maiden was around. He thought glumly to himself, wandering around the streets of New York like a lost puppy. Puppy…yes, that was it! Thor had a sudden epiphany, remembering the way Emily had gotten teary eyed the previous week while watching that ASPCA commercial with the pretty song that he didn't understand. He stopped and grabbed the first person he saw off the street.  
"You, sir, can you tell me where I can buy some sort of animal?" The man stared at Thor's outfit in a bit of a daze while mumbling "There's a pet store on 38th…." Thor slapped him friendlily on the back.  
"Thank you kindly." Once inside, Thor reminded himself not to ask for a horse like he had last time; apparently you can't buy those in stores here. He walked around for a few moments, looking from tiny Chihuahuas with their big brown eyes to hounds the size of grown people. But amongst all the different kinds of dogs was a very small and very scared looking kitten. It was mostly gray, but calico, and had large yellow eyes and a sad cute little fuzzy face.  
"Well hello there, little one. Emily would like you, you're different." He scooped the kitten into his strong arms and carried it to the register.  
"Ah, we never thought we'd see this one go. She's a little mean, I warn you, she bites." The kitten gently held on to Thor's right hand and nibbled on it, licking and nuzzling it and then repeating. He chuckled and scratched it behind the ears.  
"She's just playing, I'll take her." He paid for the animal and picked up a litter box and collar.  
"I'll come back to get this engraved after she names it." He announced to the clerk as he walked out of her store and back to the apartment. He knocked very softly on her bedroom door, only to hear silence in return.  
"Come now, Emily. I've come to make amends…I brought you a present and…I promise to not speak of my brother." He could hear Emily sigh in defeat through the door, unable to handle that pouty little voice and he made a mental note of that. She opened the door to find Thor with his hands behind his back and a shit-faced grin consuming his features.  
"I was wondering if, not only would you forgive me but I've been doing some thinking and it would bring me great pleasure if you would go steady with me." He laid out his hands before her and revealed the teeny calico. Emily felt like the breath had been sucked straight out of her lungs as she looked from Thor to the adorable present in his arms.  
"Oh Thor I…" Her phone suddenly began to ring and she cursed under her breath. It was Britney, no doubt calling to drag them into another one of her and Loki's bad ideas. She decided to ignore the call as Thor reached out and took one of her hands.  
"If it sways your answer in any way…I'm the one that changed your ringtone to this. Britney showed me how. It made me think of us and how things would be if I had to go back to Asgard." She hadn't even noticed that her phone wasn't playing her normal "White and Nerdy" ringtone, but a cover of The Cure's song "Love Song" by Good Charlotte.  
However far away, I will always love you. However long I stay, I will always love you.  
"Thor." Was all she was able to whimper as she pulled him into a chaste kiss.  
"I would love to be your girlfriend. And the kitten is adorable, thank you, but you didn't need to get me a cat to apologize to me." Thor laughed.  
"But you're worth more to me than the flowers that men get other women." Emily didn't have anything to say to that, she only kissed him again and he laid his forehead against hers.  
"What are you going to name her?" She looked down at her phone, which had already stopped ringing and started up again as Britney called for the second time.  
"How about Charlotte? And I'll call her Charlie for short." Thor gently ran his fingers through her long brunette waves and smiled.  
"It's our song then."  
Back at Tony's, Britney was becoming awfully frustrated.  
"Loki, she isn't picking up." Loki wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed the top of her head.  
"It's okay, darling, we don't need them." Tony rolled his eyes.  
"Uh yeah, we kind of do. You need me to help you make a machine to reverse the affects of a separate machine that I also apparently built, with blueprints you just tried to steal from me. I need conformation from Thor that I can not only trust the two of you, but that everything you say happened actually did." Loki rolled his eyes.  
"Yes, because Thor's ever the good brother. What I would give to see him lie through his teeth…" Britney snickered.  
"I've seen it…I made him lie to Fury." The laughter that ripped through Loki was inevitable, but the absolute awe and adoration he held in his eyes for this girl caught Tony off guard. He turned to his wife and sighed.  
"Michaela, can we trust the dynamic duo over here?" She shrugged.  
"They're disgusting and both compulsive liars, but those blue prints look authentic. There is no way they could have forged a S.H.I.E.L.D blueprint that easily….and I did find them in our library, the place half destroyed. Their story checks out." Tony looked at the couple before him, seemingly in love and definitely on a mission. Michaela was right, and against his better judgment, it seemed he had no choice but to put his faith in these two.  
"Okay, if I'm the one who did this, I want to fix it. But let me make something very clear, if either of you do anything to betray Michaela and I, I will have you both turned in to Fury immediately." Loki and Britney locked eyes briefly, the almost identical smirk on both of their faces widening.  
"When do we begin?"


	7. Elvish Endeavors

The construction of the new machine was taking far longer than any of them would have liked, but as Tony kept saying, patience was a virtue. Too bad it was something Loki Laufeyson was seriously lacking in. It had been an entire two months since Loki and Britney had found those blueprints and the machine was still only partially constructed. Of course, Loki had occupied his time with trying to break out of his own walls and let Britney in, but it seemed patience was a virtue when it came to that as well. To say the two had gotten closer was an understatement, they'd been practically inseparable and every now and then Loki would break down and tell her a few things about himself, her reciprocating and the event from the library would repeat itself.  
The problem was that what had taken Emily and Thor three weeks to accomplish still hadn't happened with this pair, they still weren't together. Britney wanted it, oh how badly she wanted it, but she could now officially say that she knew Loki, and she knew better than to make a move before he was ready. Essentially this meant it was him that would have to make the official leap from platonic friend to boyfriend, if he by some sort of miracle came to terms with the fact that that was what he wanted. Loki was working on it, he really was, and as it neared the anniversary of the night they met, he thought he would finally tell her that he wanted to court her. Loki couldn't say whether or not what he felt was love or merely deep friendship, but it was no matter to him, it was still the most he'd ever cared for another. Loki knew that it mattered to her though, he could see it in her eyes when she looked at Emily and Thor, the jealously. That was why he knew that courtship was the next step, he'd find out if he was in love with her or not through that, because there was simply no other way. He couldn't bear for another day to go by where she was just as jealous of what his brother had as he was.  
For an entire morning Britney and Loki were almost completely on the same page. Loki wanted to date her, she wanted to date him, and you'd think that would be enough for two people to finally go after one another, but of course, as it always seemed to be with these two, it wasn't. Loki walked into her bedroom that morning and crawled into bed with her, stroking her face gently until her eyes began to flutter open.  
"Good morning, Fair One. Did you sleep well?" Britney giggled and tried to hide under her covers.  
"Don't look at me; I'm hideous when I wake up in the mornings!" Loki scoffed playfully and jerked the covers back.  
"Britney Alaine Erhardt, don't you lie to me. You're the cutest little thing in the mornings. Like a little troll baby with your hair messy like that." He teased, earning a light smack as she burrowed further into her sheets.  
"See? I'm a ugly as a troll." Loki sighed and went under after her, pulling her against his chest and nibbling on her neck.  
"If you were a troll, my dear, would an Asgardian prince be after your affections?" Britney snickered and laced her fingers with his, giving them a squeeze.  
"So Thor seeks my affections?" Loki tried and failed not to chuckle.  
"Ouch, I'm hurt, maiden." He pulled her on top of him and softly captured her lips, aching to ask her the question burning under his skin.  
"I'm sorry, my king, how shall I make it up to you?" She whispered, nuzzling into his neck. Loki was about to respond with "Well being my girlfriend would be a good start." But there was a knock on the door before he could even get the first word out. As if an unspoken promise to her that he'd ask when he returned, he pulled her into a deep kiss before getting up to answer the door.  
"What in the name of Odin do you want, Thor, I am kind of in the middle of something." He snapped, folding his arms across his chest and glaring heavily at his brother. Thor peeked inside her room and caught her trying to comb her messy hair out with her fingers, still wrapped in her sheets in nothing but a baby pink nightgown waiting on Loki to return.  
"Ah were you and Lady Britney frolicking intimately in the sac, hm?" Loki sputtered a little, looking from Britney to the floor.  
"No, Thor, not anything like that you perverted little buffoon, what do you want?!" He spat bitterly, only growing more irritated as Thor burst into laughter.  
"Never fret brother, I'm only joshing. I came to tell you that Tony called, he has finished a rather large piece to the machine today, I thought you'd be happy to hear." Loki's face turned red.  
"Only a piece? How long does it take to make—ugh this is madness!" Thor put his face in his hands.  
"Loki, the man is working as fast as he can. I personally don't understand this obsession of yours to make people remember, do you honestly want your lady to remember all the terrible things that you've done?" And just like that, Thor ruined everything. One little sentence had torn away any and all hope there was that Loki was finally going to ask Britney out, no, he'd killed it.  
"I…" He trailed off and turned to the woman he'd just about asked to court him, watching her sit innocently on the edge of her bed, mumbling untranslatable words as she flipped through her diary, which she'd confided in him one night that she'd written completely in Elvish so no one could understand it. His little nerd, and oh how he was falling in love with her. She was too good for him, and as much as he hated to put her through it all again, he just couldn't stay with her. He couldn't stay and love her more, only to have her turn away from him when she remembered everything he'd once dreamed this realm would remember. He and she were simply not meant to be.  
"Thor could you…could you give us a minute? Alone?" Thor looked a little confused, not really realizing how much his words had affected his brother, but he nodded and left the room quickly. Loki shut the door and walked over to his love, oh his little love with his favorite brown eyes, and the smile he'd surely miss when he departed from here. But what other choice did he have? He didn't belong here. She looked up at him and smiled her most delicate smile, reaching out for his hand.  
"Loki, can I ask you something?" Loki's heart was breaking, his eyes filled with tears because he knew how fragile she was and how she'd take this, she had become his best and only friend these last two months, and this is the last thing he ever wanted to say to her.  
"What is it, my angel?" His voice was a ghost of a whisper and the term of endearment that he called her so naturally had un-willfully slipped out. He bit his lip hard enough to draw blood, but Britney didn't seem to notice, as she was looking at her hands, something he'd noticed she did when she was nervous.  
"Loki, I think you know by now that you're someone very close to me. I was just wondering if…you felt anything towards me as more than a friend." Britney couldn't breathe, part of her knew this was the wrong move, but all that kissing had driven her nearly mad, she had to know. Loki memorized the way her fair, soft skin felt in his hand as he clutched it for what he thought would be the last time, and then released it, turning from her as to not see her face when he said the evil words on his tongue.  
"No." He lied.  
"I don't even like you as a friend, and you know what else? I wish we'd never met. You're a stupid and immature little girl, and I was wrong to think there could be anything between us." There was an almost tangible silence and Loki snuck a peak at her briefly, which was definitely the wrong move. Her face was completely void of emotion except for the expression written in her eyes, pure loneliness and utter sadness.  
"I don't believe you. You've said all this before, and yet you came back for me. It's a defense mechanism, Loki, you think people get too close and then you shut them out. You can't keep doing that to people, not the people that love you the most, or you'll only further the loneliness of yourself and everyone around you." Britney wanted to smack herself…she'd spoken the forbidden word without even meaning too, the "L" word. Loki flinched, screwing his eyes closed and clinching his fists. Damn her for being right.  
"You're more pathetic than I imagined. I hate you, can't you understand that?" Britney laughed coldly, something that in no way sounded natural to Loki.  
"No, I don't understand. I don't understand how you can kiss me one moment and hate me the next, you are a liar!" She screamed, walking to him and forcing him to look at her. Loki's eyes were betraying him and he knew it, he could see the way they made the ice in her own soften. He choked down the bile rising in the back of his throat, his disgust for himself and his remorse, and shook his head at her.  
"Namarie." He whispered, using what little Elvish she'd taught to him. Britney had known that was the one word she should have never taught him—farewell. No, Britney was not going to let him walk out on her again, no one throws her out twice, it wasn't happening. This time, it would be her that walked away.  
"Amin feuya ten' lle, ego mibo Orch!" She spat, tears spilling over as she pushed him hard and ran from her bedroom. Loki, a little bewildered, went and looked for one of her fantasy books under her bed, the one that held some translations for that language.  
"You disgust me…go kiss an Orc. Well, I don't know what an Orc is, but I can guess that isn't pleasant." He mumbled, running a hand through his hair and wiping away a few stray tears. He wished he hadn't had to hurt her. It wasn't very long at all before Emily was barging into the room.  
"What in the name of all that is holy did you do to her?! She refuses to speak English, Loki, and she hasn't been stuck in dork-language mode since our senior year when her last boyfriend cheated on her with half the cheer squad on her birthday!" Loki shot her a tight lipped smile.  
"It's none of your concern." Emily grabbed him roughly by his hair.  
"Excuse me? No, this is every bit of my concern; she got in her car and drove off screaming about wanting to get wasted." Loki's eyebrows rose.  
"I thought she wasn't speaking English." Emily rolled her eyes.  
"She wasn't, dick bag, the last time someone hurt her like this she spoke the damn language for a year, I had to learn to at least half way speak Nerd." Loki's eyes darkened and he yanked her hand from his hair.  
"Don't speak of her as if she's a burden to you." Emily's anger had reached a boiling point, but she was unable to do anything but walk away for fear that she'd actually kill him.  
"Burden to me? If anyone acts as if she's a burden, it's you." She spat, stalking from the room and asking Thor to hold her. Loki walked to the door, overhearing Thor ask if Britney would be okay.  
"I don't think so, Thor, I really don't. She's not a pretty drunk, I'd go after her to make sure she didn't hurt herself but she didn't say where she was going. I just hope she comes home soon and then we can figure out how to slowly force the English language upon her again."  
Of course, I had to fall in love with the impulsive one; I can't leave until I know she isn't in any danger. He thought angrily, knowing in his heart that this had all been so stupid anyway. Loki teleported to a place where her energy was the strongest, it was a bar not too awfully far from the apartment. It wasn't hard to spot the golden angel in her nightgown, who had only bothered to grab a trench coat on her way out to wrap around her. She'd brushed her hair out in the car he'd assumed, as it was back to looking smooth and silky. She was uttering things that the bartender obviously didn't understand, and they were both getting frustrated.  
"Ni faug…" She kept whispering, though no one understood and so no one served her. Loki sighed, it was taking all his strength not to walk over and smack the daylights out of the server, she was obviously asking for a drink. Though what was obvious to Loki, whom had just spent two months trapped in this girls world wasn't so normal to everyone else. A few moments later, a tall man in a suit approached Britney, a look in his eyes that Loki in no way trusted, so he moved in just a bit closer.  
"Ma'am, as a businessman, I speak a lot of different languages. Chinese, Japanese, Swahili, but you're speaking something I've never heard before. You must be awfully far from home, is that a mandarin dialect you're using?" Britney looked up at him glumly and shook her head.  
"Ú-thand." He chuckled creepily, reaching out and cupping her cheek.  
"I don't understand a word your saying, gorgeous. I love it when I meet foreign women I can't understand, something about that's kind of hot." Britney turned purple and looked away, and Loki was praying to the gods that it was an uncomfortable purple and not the kind she'd turn around him.  
She's not foreign, she lives right down the street you pompous old fool. To say that Loki was brooding and on edge was an understatement, he was tense, ten seconds away from murdering this man, and about to have a mental break down. The stranger petted her hair for a moment and leaned in, Loki becoming quite pleased when she pushed him away.  
"Baw!" She huffed, turning around in her seat to where she wasn't facing him. Loki was just thinking to himself that he should leave, he'd taught his maiden well, she could fare on her own. But the moment he turned his back and headed towards the exit, that melodious voice that haunted him in his dreams rang out in pain, something he'd never been able to handle hearing in her.  
"Nîdh!" Loki recognized that word from the many times Britney had accidently hurt herself, she was klutzy you see, which Loki found to be adorable. It Hurts. That was what Nîdh meant, and when Loki turned to see the strange businessman yanking Britney's hair back and forcing her into a kiss, something clicked within Loki. He was no longer unsure whether or not she was more to him than a best friend, he was no longer afraid to say to her what he felt, and most importantly, he was no longer afraid of hurting her. In that moment it was clear to him that he could never do to her what that man was doing, or anything else that may cause her harm, because his instinct to protect her was stronger than he'd ever dared imagine when they met. His love for her was that previously unnamed emotion that made his heart ache when he was near her, the driving factor of his possessiveness and jealousy, what made his body feel too warm and vulnerable yet strangely safe on those nights that he confided in her. Britney was dorky, weak, too kind for her own good, optimistic yet slightly introverted, and she was the strangest person in the nine realms that he'd ever met, yet Loki, son of Laufey and renowned God of mischief, had fallen helplessly in love with her.  
"Get your ungodly hands off of her, she's mine!" Loki sneered, an almost inhuman growl ripping through his chest as he very tenderly, as not to hurt her any further, tore the mans fingers from her hair and shoved him off of her.  
"I saw her first, freak; I bet you don't even know where she's from." The stranger challenged.  
"She's from somewhere in-between none of your damn business and if you touch my girlfriend again I will kill you." By this time the bar had grown quiet and everyone was looking in their direction. Britney had hid behind Loki, who was now inches away from the man's face.  
"You'll kill me huh? Over some mandarin slut?" Loki grabbed him by the throat and lifted him off the ground.  
"I've killed over less. Now, I dare you to call her a slut once more." The man, now struggling to breathe, choked out slut as best he could manage. Loki smiled his rawest, evilest smile and shrugged his shoulders.  
"So be it." He snapped the man's neck in one swift motion and dropped his body to the floor carelessly. The rest of the people in the bar all reacted at once, some fleeing, others charging at Loki. He picked Britney up in his arms bridal style and they quickly disappeared before everyone's eyes. Britney was trembling in his arms, and he knew that killing him in front of her had been a mistake, but to him it didn't matter anymore. Nothing mattered anymore besides her safety. They had ended up back in Britney's room and he pinned her against the wall.  
"What on Earth were you thinking? Going to a place like that alone, I don't care how badly I hurt your feelings, never put yourself in danger like that again, do you understand me?!" He barked, his damp eyes only mirroring hers.  
"Why do you care?" Her first English words in about an hour were icy and shouted, something that wounded him more than he'd like to admit. A simultaneous tear treaded down both of their cheeks, and for some reason this pissed him off.  
"Because I love you!" He screamed, the words hung thick and heavily in the air, nearly suffocating them both.  
"Y-You what?" He ever so softly brushed the tears from her face and took a deep breath, lowering his voice to avoid shouting at her again, which he hated doing.  
"Ci veleth e-guil nîn." He whispered, not knowing how she would react considering what all had just happened. Britney was dangerously close to fainting, the man she loved had just killed someone and then told her she was the love of his life in a language she'd half way taught him. She didn't know if she was happier or more terrified, but there was something about Loki that made her love him and remain unafraid of him no matter what he did.  
"I love you too, so much." She whispered back, finally losing consciousness and falling into his arms. He carried her back to her bed and curled up with her.  
"Forgive me, Fair One, I'll make this up to you, I promise." Unbeknown to him, Emily had been standing in the doorway for quite a while. She smiled to herself and sighed. Loki was so wrong for her, but so right at the exact same time. It was hard for her to say whether or not they would make it, but it was clear that fate had brought them together for a reason, and she was fairly certain that no matter how soon, Britney had made a decent choice.  
Maybe Thor was right. Emily thought. There's more to Loki than just a fallen prince.


	8. Ascending to Asgard

The sun had risen the next morning and Loki found himself in Britney's bed. He'd stayed with her the rest of the previous day, feeling as if he owed her the comfort. His arms were securely wrapped around her, and she was curled into his chest, unconsciously nuzzling into his neck. This pleased him far more than he'd care to admit, though he supposed that since he'd now said the infamous "L" word that a lot more of this would happen, and he'd have to own up to enjoying it. Enjoying it as he was, he kissed the top of her head and carefully untangled their bodies, slipping out of bed.

He quickly found the precious little device he knew Britney loved to play music on, an iPod if he remembered correctly, and unplugged the headphones. He turned it up and laid it at his place on the bed, putting her favorite Ed Sheeran song on repeat and then disappearing for the next item he needed. A red suitcase was to be found under her bed, which he filled with the outfits he liked best from her closet and dresser. He also packed a few of her favorite books (namely _The Hobbit_ and _The Vampire Diaries_ series) and then left to go get a few necessities that couldn't be found in her room.

When Britney awoke she was more than slightly confused. The first thing she heard was the soft rapture of "I See Fire" and she believed herself to still be dreaming, as she'd dreamed of mountains being licked by flames dancing in a bright auburn glow that seemed to be emanating from a beautiful forest. When she reached for Loki and found him not, her eyes flew open wide in frantic search for him.

"Loki?" There was of course no answer since he'd been gone now for several minutes, and it terrified her. After the day they'd gone through yesterday she feared he'd truly left her this time. It wasn't until she got up to use the bathroom that she noticed her suitcase was out and packed full of her belongings, a note perched neatly on top.

_My fairest maiden, _

_I know you're probably worried after the events of our last morning together, but please do not trouble yourself so. I am simply out at the commoners market…what do you call it? Wal-mart? I had some things to pick up, and I do believe you'll be quite surprised, if not overjoyed to see them. See you when your beauty sleep ceases, though I assure you that you need not anymore, as you are already more beautiful than the rarest and most treasured gold._

_-Loki_

Britney couldn't help but grin from one ear to the other, her day having been absolutely made. She had no clue as to why he had packed her a suitcase, but he had done so without any explanation on the note, so she decided to let it go until he returned to her. She went to her closet to see what was left out of the things he'd packed and she put on a heather gray drop-waist sweater dress that was a delicate pink at the skirt, topping it all off with the same matching flats that you've previously read about her wearing. She skipped happily into Thor and Emily's room, where she was sure she had interrupted something. Thor had quite a hold on Emily's headboard and from the sound of it, it was about to snap in two. Emily couldn't be seen, as Thor's naked body was hovering over her, but Britney had seen quite enough to know what was taking place and that she didn't want to be there.

Thor didn't even take notice to the sound of a door opening or the muffled squeak that followed because it was punctuated with the door quickly closing and he figured it would be a long while before anyone would ever be intruding again. Emily tried to peak around him but to no avail, as his toned body was large enough to shield her from anything outside of himself.

"Did you hear something?" Thor chuckled.

"Take no notice of it my love, I think it was the cat." That made sense to Emily, Charlie had gotten quite a bit larger and a little squirrely, just last week she'd ruined Britney's favorite drapes (which Loki punished her for by having her declawed, which Emily still didn't know about) and tore holes into all the chip bags in the pantry.

"Charlie loves to climb things now, I bet you're right. Isn't she the cutest?" Thor just nodded, but didn't say much, feeling guilty that Charlie wouldn't be climbing much of anything anymore. Loki had made him promise to help care for the cat's stitches in secret after Britney had informed him Emily would be pissed when she found out. Thor pushed all thoughts of that from his mind, smiling down at the beautiful woman before him.

"I love you." It was hard for Emily to swallow this, as you know by now I'm sure that she's the type to take things nice and slow. However, the gorgeous blonde god had made her feel things the last three months that she'd never felt before, thus how she'd ended up in bed with him. Emily knew that she loved him, if she didn't she wouldn't have allowed the situation at hand to occur, but believe it or not Emily Jane Brooks was quite shy with her feelings despite her more aggressive nature. One would suppose she was a lot like Loki in that aspect, which is probably why they butted heads so often. Thor knew this, which is why he by no means expected to hear it back. Yet there they were, making love for the very first time and there was no way she'd have let it get this far if her feelings were not reciprocated. She ran a hand through his long blonde locks and sighed, coming to terms with the fact now was the time to say it.

"I l-lov—" Thor chuckled and his eyes twinkled, unperturbed by her inability to say it, he knew she felt it deep inside.

"It's okay Emily, you don't have to say it." She reached up and kissed him lightly, shaking her head.

"No I want too. I…I love you, Thor. I truly do." Making him immensely happy, Thor grabbed her up in his arms and passionately re-began the events that had halted when Britney had walked into the room.

Meanwhile Britney was sitting glumly in her room, while she was happy for her friend she was a little sad she'd lost the bet they had when they were younger at who would lose their virginity first. She wasn't so much sad she hadn't done that with Loki, as she was positive they weren't ready, but she was sad that her wallet was about to be fifty dollars smaller. When Loki finally returned she had just finished fixing her hair in what she called a "Katniss Braid" (I assume everyone knows what that looks like) which was why she'd originally gone to Emily and Thor's room, to get some help, but she'd managed on her own.

"You look lovely." Loki said sweetly, earning a blush from his girlfriend. Loki was feeling particularly not himself today, he felt…mushy. He thought maybe it was because he was nervous to execute his plans for the day, or maybe because he had just now finally admitted his feelings to her and to himself; but overall he didn't entirely hate this feeling or what it was making him do, so long as it stayed between him and his woman, as not to look weak to the rest of the world. He walked briskly to her and pulled her into a very rough kiss, which was a signal to Britney that he was either very anxious, very angry, or very horny. She'd noticed over the three and a half months that she'd known him that his kisses varied with his mood. When he was relaxed or just particularly happy they were soft sweet romantic kisses and any other time they were like this. He showed no signs of being angry, and since he'd gone through all that trouble with the iPod and the note she figured it was his nerves. The kiss was searing and left her a little dazed, which made Loki smirk.

"So what was all that with Wal-Mart and Ed Sheeran?" She asked flirtatiously, twirling the hair at the end of her braid with her finger. Loki's eyes gleamed playfully and he pulled her against him gently.

"I was looking around for you a present and I didn't want you to wake up while I was leaving so, I was hoping the song would lull you to sleep. I remembered you saying he had the voice of an angel, so…" He trailed off, a small but bright smile tugging at his lips. Britney wrapped her arms around his neck and touched her forehead to his.

"A present? Why? Loki darling you didn't have to—" Loki put a finger to her lips and shushed her as if they were in some sort of cliché western movie.

"I wanted too, I needed to make up for yesterday, I felt really bad." Britney nuzzled into him and he squeezed her softly.

"You did make up for it, you told me that you loved me. That's all I could ever ask for." While this confession surprised Loki a bit, he would be lying if he said it didn't brighten his dark little world. It made his heart swell in ways he'd never known to be possible and he very delicately pulled her lips into one of his soft kisses.

"Well that's a given, my fair one, you're the only woman I've ever taken the time to know and love. No one else has ever met my fancy, they weren't special enough." Her grip on him tightened and she entwined her fingers in his hair.

"I love you too, you know. I don't remember if I told you before I passed out or not, but I do. You've become…everything to me." Loki chuckled very lovingly and pulled away.

"I know, love, I've always known." He then pulled something out of his pocket.

"Wal-Mart didn't have what I was looking for, so I had to shop around, but I finally found it in a store selling that cosplay stuff I've heard you mention. I really hope you like it." He added almost shyly. Her eyes fell to his open hand, and in it there was a silver chain. Upon the chain was a white gem that looked like a star and Britney's breath was knocked clean out of her.

"The Evenstar…" For those of you that don't know, the Evenstar was a symbol of the undying love between Aragorn and Arwen in The Lord of The Rings. In Loki's mind, if Britney spoke Elvish then there was absolutely no reason why this couple couldn't represent them. After all, to Loki, their new found love had the potential to be just as everlasting, and he knew his nerd would go crazy for this.

"Oh Loki, I love it." He grinned.

"I knew you would." He hung it around her neck and clasped it for her, going in for another kiss.

"Alright angel, grab your suitcase, we're heading out." She grabbed her knitted Slytherin purse and slipped her iPod in it after reacquainting it with her headphones.

"Yeah I noticed that you'd packed me a suitcase, where are we going?" Loki grabbed her hand after bringing her luggage to her and shrugged.

"It's a surprise. Come on, we have to go outside, I can't just teleport to where we're going." They walked passed Thor and Emily's room to the front door where Britney mentioned to Loki what she'd walked in on. Loki of course, found this to be hilarious instead of disturbing and they laughed about it and joked amongst themselves until they reached the front yard.

"Heimdall! Open the bifrost!" Loki knew that this was dangerous, as he'd been in a cell the last time he was in Asgard, but he needed to go back and he wasn't leaving without Britney as dangerous as it was. Loki was half afraid that he'd refuse, but sure enough a vortex to the rainbow bridge opened up and he and Britney were pulled inside.


	9. Fallen Friendships

**Chapter Nine**

After their sexual escapade that morning, each took a shower and Emily was finally able to convince Thor to put on the Midgardian clothing she'd bought for him. He slipped on the tight white T-Shirt and dark-wash jeans and pulled his hair back. They snuggled up on the couch together and Emily reached for the remote, turning it to Fox News and hoping to see her friend.

"Britney gets to report sometimes and she had work today so, let's see what's going on." They saw Britney all right, but not in the way that they were hoping. All seemed well enough at first, Bob Cusack was doing a segment with Bill O'Reilly and the topic had been about Hillary Clinton's supposed decision to run for president in 2016. Same old same old, right? Well they were nearing the Pinheads and Patriots segment and Bob Cusack had quickly gone away, allowing the latter to continue on with his show.

"There goes our hopes of seeing Britney, what the heck is O'Reilly doing on at ten in the morning?" Thor grabbed the remote and pressed the guide button, which Emily had just taught him how to do a few days prior.

"It's a repeat from last night." Emily rolled her eyes.

"Well that's stupid, America's Newsroom should be on live right now…" Thor shrugged.

"Maybe they had to cancel it due to a bunch of people being absent? It's starting to get really icy here in New York, they may not have been able to go to work." Emily seemed to ponder this for a moment before retorting "Yeah but Britney would have stayed home right? She's not here…" By the time the conversation had reached this point, O'Reilly had finished talking about last night's Patriot and had moved on to the Pinhead category.

"Tonight's Pinhead was an oddly dressed Caucasian male caught on tape murdering a forty-five year old businessman from West Virginia. The victim, an executive in the meat industry and multi-millionaire, Miles Declan, was harassing a meek blonde woman at the bar and paid for it with a broken neck. The tapes end here but sources say the woman was later snatched by the man and the two disappeared. Why is he a Pinhead, you ask, for helping that innocent woman? The answer is simply that two wrongs don't make a right, and if you are to kill someone, why do it in a public place where God and everyone can see you?" Emily's mouth dropped open and she began to shake.

"T-Thor…Loki….h-he…." Thor took a deep breath as if to calm himself and then wrapped his arms around Emily.

"It's alright, my love. I'm sure he didn't kidnap Britney, I mean, she's his girlfriend, she trusts him no matter what and I'm sure she went with him willingly." Emily's head very slowly turned towards her boyfriend.

"That is so not even the problem! Yeah I bet she did tag along with her perfect 'I can do no wrong boyfriend', but your brother killed another human being, Thor!" Thor put his head in his hands and sighed.

"I know. That means we can't stay here any longer, we can't have him getting arrested." Emily turned purple.

"And why is that? Why is it so bad that he be punished for his crimes? He is supposed to be locked away anyway, do you even realize that I've been housing a fugitive in two different realms?!" Thor sighed again, blanching when he looked into the furious eyes of the woman he loved.

"My dear, I know this. Believe me I do, but Heimdall sees all. If my parents wanted Loki back in his cell he would be there, they know where he is. I figured that meant there was a purpose for them allowing his freedom, and I decided early on I was not to interrupt. Especially since he met Britney, I figured she would keep him in line." Emily shook her head spitefully, becoming more and more angry at not only Loki, but at her friend.

"Yeah well Britney's moral scruples aren't nearly as high as I had hoped when we met. She just goes along with whatever he wants because she is the biggest pushover on the face of this friggin planet and I am _sick _of it. This ends today, Thor, do you know where they are?" She demanded, looking him hard in his concerned crystal blue eyes. He didn't say anything but offered her his hand, helping her off the couch. He walked her outside and shot her a grave look.

"This is just a hunch of mine, but the way Loki's been acting lately I've suspected that he wanted to show Britney something in Asgard. When he and I were little there was this special place…just…I'll explain it on the way there, okay?"

Meanwhile, Britney and Loki had reached the entrance to Asgard and came to face Heimdall. Heimdall grimaced when he saw them approach, obviously not at all happy to see the man who'd once frozen him.

"I warn you, Loki. You are not here out of the kindness of my heart. You are being taken to Odin and more than likely back to your cell shortly." Britney squeezed Loki's hand reassuringly and stepped closer to him for her own comfort.

"You know nothing. I bet you haven't even seen with that all-seeing eye of yours who is standing right behind you." Heimdall glanced over his shoulder briefly, but just briefly enough for Loki to tighten his grip on Britney and disappear into Asgard. His emerald eyes brightened and he grinned at her.

"You're amazing…" Britney reached up and tenderly brushed his obsidian mane from his eyes and smiled.

"I don't like already how people treat you here, and I certainly don't want to see you taken back to imprisonment. You deserve better." He took her hand in his and brought their lips together, kissing her with force yet it was soft as a caress and he pulled her against his chest once they'd pulled away.

"I love you." Britney giggled happily and lay her head on his chest.

"I love you too." Loki was quiet for a moment before adding "I have a very special place to show you here and…I want you to meet my mother." A light gasp escaped Britney's lips and she gazed up at him.

"Really? But what if…what if she doesn't like me?" Loki laughed gently and kissed the top of her head.

"Oh fair angel, how could she not? You're very kind and intelligent, and you see past the bad and love the good regardless. You're the best person I've ever met." Britney almost snorted. She, in her own opinion, wasn't a very good person at all. She was insecure, felt as if she couldn't do much of anything correctly, and was a tad on the shallow end, if being shallow and insecure at the same time makes much sense. But she figured she was nice enough if Loki said so, and he did, so she didn't comment.

Asgard was like nothing she had ever seen before. Everything seemed golden to Britney, as if the entire realm was dusted with a bronze hue that fit perfectly with the warm breeze in the air. Far away as they were, Britney could clearly see what she assumed was the palace, and it took her breath away.

"Is that where we're going?" She pointed a slender finger to the large almost pyramid shaped castle, the shiniest of the golden buildings. Loki beamed and wrapped an arm around her waist.

"Yes. That is my home. I would have already taken us inside, but I wanted to show you what my realm looks like. This is the place we're going to rule one day." Britney's breath hitched in the back of her throat and Loki smirked.

"What? You don't expect me to rule without a queen by my side do you?" A bright red blush crept up Britney's face and her heart nearly exploded with feelings as her big brown eyes met Loki's oddly gentle green ones.

"Is that a proposal?" She asked playfully, and whilst Loki knew she was playing, he hoped she knew how serious he really was.

"Would you like it to be?" For once in their courtship Loki was the one ready and willing to commit, he was eager to drop to his knee and claim her as his because after their adventure in the bar he knew that his possessiveness was leading in this direction anyway. However, Britney couldn't bring herself to say anything, and her silence deflated his ego a bit. He brought her hand up to his lips and kissed it gently, dismissing the thought and leading her in the direction of the palace.

Once inside, Loki deftly made his way through the halls, and was largely unnoticed, although it took a lot of effort to conceal Britney as well as himself. They were able to make it back to Loki's old bedroom pretty quickly, and because of orders from Frigga none of his stuff had been bothered. He closed the door behind him quickly and turned to the room with an almost sad expression. His eyes seemed a darker green and his face was solemn, he moved slowly to his old bed and sat as if he were afraid that the rest of the room would betray him. The walls were a dark green and the soft carpet was midnight black, causing Loki's hair and eyes to look very dark and gloomy, but Britney was unable to tell if it was the room doing so or not. She hesitantly sat down beside him and took his hand.

"Are you alright?" He shrugged.

"I'm not sure exactly. It's been a very long time since I've seen this room. I never thought Mother would go to such great lengths to keep it this way…nothing has been touched since the day I last slept in here." Britney's grip on his hand tightened.

"She did it because she loves you. She wants you to be able to come back here and not be in your cell, I'd bet. Maybe she's spoken to your father?" Loki laughed bitterly.

"I'm sure she has. Up until I met you I've often considered my mother to be the only person who really loves me, but love me as she does she can't change my father. No one can change the great Odin, oh no, not even the supposed love of his life. He is a fat, pompous, ill-tempered old tyrant, and I've always resented the way he treats Mother…as if she has no opinions of her own. He values not that she cares about me, he lets her keep my room this way and he lets her keep my cell more like a barred bedroom than a prison only to keep her at bay. If he really valued what she had to say or her feelings, then I would have served my punishment serving the people of Asgard and been given my room back like she'd asked." Loki liked it when he got time to open up to Britney about these type things, it always felt like enormous weights were being lifted off his heart.

"She sounds like a very kind woman. I bet she'll be over the moon to see you again." Loki smiled and his eyes seemed to lighten back up a bit.

"I hope so. I am taking you to her, but you may want to make yourself comfortable here first. I don't know how long we're staying but I packed you over half your closet. You can hang your clothes in with mine in my own closet, and your suitcase should fit in the floor of it. Britney was quite surprised when she opened his closet door. There were rows of various armors and green capes and even some mail if you can believe it, but there were also regular Midgardian-looking clothes although not much. She raised her eyebrow as she hung some of her dresses.

"What are these for?" Loki shrugged again.

"Eh, that's some god-awful Midgardian attire I acquired on my first ever trip there. Mainly suits, but I suppose I should take some of it with me if we ever go back there." Britney noticed the "if we ever go back there" bit and shot him a look, but Loki's Cheshire grin only widened. Looking at their clothing mixed together in his closet only furthered his feelings about finalizing their relationship. Britney closed the closet door, a sudden curiousness bubbling up inside of her.

"You know…what you said earlier, about ruling Asgard? I thought we were going to rule Midgard." Loki laughed and his entire face lit up with a thousand watt smile.

"Yes fair one, now you are grasping the idea of 'we'." This made him happier than he'd anticipated it would, and he got off his bed immediately and pinned her against his bedroom wall.

"I want to rule nothing more than I do Asgard, I've lived here all my life minus my birth on Jotunheim. I am settling for Midgard for now if Stark can get that blasted machine finished…but one day, you and I will return here as King and Queen, I promise you that. It will be our heirs sitting on the throne when we die, and we'll take our last breaths right here in the palace, in one another's arms." Britney flushed and looked down at her hands.

"Are you sure you want me around that long?" Loki leaned in, stopping an inch away from her lips and breathing hotly against her face.

"Darling, I want to marry you." Britney didn't know how Loki had come to this conclusion so quickly, but she didn't protest. She crushed their faces together, much to Loki's delight, and wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Excuse me, but fuck no, get your hands off of her right now!" They heard Emily's shrill voice call from behind them.

"I knew she'd be here, see? Loki's room is precious to him, he hardly left it in his youth. Granted this is not the special place I was talking about but I assume they just haven't gotten there yet." Thor's voice was rather chipper, but Emily looked like she could cut someone any second. Loki chuckled.

"Oh you thought I was going to take her to that cavern near the dungeons where we used to pretend we were exploring Nidavellir. Well I thought about it, but not much of our play things are down there anymore I don't believe. Father didn't like us pretending to be dwarves." Thor laughed.

"I remember that, he went on some sort of rant on how there were better inhabitants of the nine realms to look up too, which I always thought was harsh." Loki shot his brother a knowing look.

"Well we don't exactly have a kind fath—" Loki didn't get to finish that sentence, as he was cut off.

"Now Loki, please don't say such things." Everyone turned around to see none other than Frigga herself standing in the doorway.

"Mother!" Both Thor and Loki shouted at the same time. She hugged Thor and then walked to the back of the room where Loki and Britney were standing, taking Loki's face in her hands and shaking her head at him.

"I never thought I'd see you again, my sweet little Loki." She whispered, pulling him into a hug and allowing her tears to fall.

"Come now Mother, please don't cry. Father couldn't keep us apart forever." Emily wasn't even excited to see the Queen, as she was furious with both Loki and Britney and her anger was only festering because she couldn't seem to get a word in edgewise. Frigga, however, was greatly excited to see the girls.

"Are these your mates? Oh boys, they're beautiful!" Loki pulled Britney to his side and kissed her temple.

"I know she is, she's perfect, I'm sure you'll love her." She beamed.

"Oh I'm sure I will, she seems like she's taking good care of you, that's all I've ever wanted anyone to do. Are you here to stay? I can try to speak to your Father again, though I'm not sure how that will turn out and I don't want you to get returned to your cell." That did it, Emily exploded.

"But he deserves to be locked away! He killed someone!" Frigga was startled at first, but then understanding washed over her face as she looked from Emily back to her son.

"Oh Loki, I thought you'd learned your lesson all this time that you've been imprisoned." Not being able to handle his mother sounding ashamed of him, Loki immediately jumped on the defensive.

"But the man was trying to hurt Britney!" He said as he gestured to her.

"He would have raped her had I not done what I did." Britney nodded.

"It's true, your majesty, I was in danger." Frigga nodded and sighed, gently rubbing Loki's arm.

"We need to work on that, okay? I'm not upset with you, but there are other ways to go about saving people you care about, alright?" Loki nodded.

"Yes, Mother." She kissed his cheek and then turned back to Emily.

"It's a learning process for him my dear, please understand. I do however admire your sense of right and wrong, I think a lot of people in all the Nine Realms are a bit lacking in that area within today's generation." Emily smiled at her, although she was still pissed at the world generally, she liked Frigga.

"I understand, ma'am. It's lovely to meet you by the way." Frigga nodded happily in her direction and pulled her into an unexpected hug. Then she turned and hugged Britney and then headed for the door.

"You guys hide out for a while, I'm going to see what I can do without revealing that you're here yet. I will fix this my son, somehow I will, okay?" When she was gone and the door to Loki's bedroom was once again shut tight, Emily narrowed her eyes at Loki.

"What the hell is wrong with you? First you kill an innocent man in front of a good forty eye-witnesses, but then you kidnap my best friend!" Loki rolled his eyes.

"Kidnapping is a little much don't you think? I mean, she is my girlfriend after all." Emily snorted.

"Yeah but I know my best friend, she would never willingly go with a murder, right Britney?" Emily looked to her friend, hoping to at least see one little sign of remorse but there was none.

"I'm not upset with him, Emily, and yes, I came of my own accord. You have to understand, he only did what he thought was—" Emily's hope for humanity had literally drained from her face.

"No, you know what? I don't want to hear it. I can't bear to hear one more sympathetic word go towards that man, I hate him and I am disappointed enough in you right now that I'm not ever sure I can be friends with you anymore." Britney, in that moment, felt like her entire world had just shattered, but if she'd learned anything from Loki it was to never show your emotions in a moment of weakness.

"Fine. If that's how you really feel…then….then…Gin ú-velin." Emily's jaw dropped, as Britney had just said in Elvish that she didn't love her anymore.

"Thostog sui úan!" Emily shrieked. After hearing the proclamation from Emily that Britney smelled like a monster, Loki decided to intervene.

"Ladies, please, this is ridiculous. Emily, leave her alone, do you understand me? It's not her fault that I do these things and it's also not her fault that you obviously don't know the meaning of unconditional love." Emily, feeling more insulted than ever, slowly turned to look Britney dead in her eyes.

"Britney…are you going to let him speak to me that way?" Britney under normal circumstances she would have stuck have stuck up for her, but right now both of their feelings were hurt and Britney was in no way feeling compliant.

"I'm sorry? Do you expect someone that's not your friend to stand up for you while you're being a freaking…cock juggling thunder cunt?" Loki about laughed out loud.

"I see….because she's dating Thor, that's kind of cleaver my love." He said, fighting to remain serious.

"I always knew you were a traitorous hoe but this…this is low." Emily stormed from the room without even bothering to ask Thor to join her and without knowing where she was going. Thor followed her quickly, after shooting Britney the most spite filled glare she'd ever seen the big guy muster up. It was only then that Britney began to outwardly shatter. Nothing in all the realms, not even Loki's love, could fix what had just happened. Britney had finally done the one thing she'd been scared of all her life, she'd pushed her best friend away and was now left with a hole in her chest that could never be filled.


	10. JARVIS and G-Spots

**Chapter Ten**

The despair filled look in Britney's eyes concerned Loki very deeply. The tears fell almost instantaneously after Thor had slammed the door behind him, and Loki was at a loss for how to comfort her. He wrapped his arms around her and walked the two of them to his bed, lifting her up on top of it and crawling onto it beside her.

"It's okay, Britney. She was holding you back, you are better off without her." This of course didn't make her feel better at all and she only cried harder. Loki wished he were better at things like this, but he'd kept to himself most of his life and he really only knew how to comfort Thor, who liked to feel like everything that happened to him had the purpose of making his life that more awesome. Britney curled up to his chest and wept for a while, much to Loki's dismay. He disliked it to no end when his love was hurting, and he wanted nothing more than to fix it.

"Is there anything I can do, fair one? I'm sorry that she hurt you. I promise you, she and my brother will both pay for this." Britney sighed deeply and snuggled into him deeper.

"I don't want them to pay, I just want you to hold me." It was then that Loki got an idea.

"Well sweetheart, I can keep holding you like this if you want, or I could just make you forget by holding you like _this." _He whispered, pulling her up to where her body was resting on top of his and he was kissing and nipping at her neck. She squeaked a little bit, not really expecting this at all. Loki enjoyed the sound and bit her harder, causing her to begin to squirm on top of him, her hands flying straight into his hair.

"I like to have my hair pulled." He purred as she tugged lightly on it.

"Yeah well…I apparently like to be bitten." Loki chuckled.

"Well aren't we a pair." He reversed the roles and flipped them so that he was on top, slipping his hand up her dress and moving it up enough to where it would reveal her ice pink all-over lace panties. He bent down and kissed at her thighs, giving her a nip here and there like he had with her neck.

"Have you forgotten my love?" Britney whimpered out a no and he gently used his thumb to massage her clit through her underwear. Britney yelped, much to his amusement, and he chuckled.

"How about now?" She shook her head no and he smirked.

"Now why do I think you're just saying that?" He teased with a wink, threading his fingers into the sides and preparing to slide her panties off.

"Wait!" She squealed, removing his fingers and attempting to sit up. He cocked his head to the side and she quickly hid her face from him in shame.

"Loki I…this is embarrassing." He gently caressed her hair and in his most soothing voice said "What's there to be embarrassed about? You're beautiful." She shook her head and sighed.

"It's not that it's just…I've never…you know." Her voice was just barely a whisper, but he understood her loud and clear.

"Oh, my dear, I know. Maidens are expected to wait until marriage before becoming…un-maidenly, if you will, here in Asgard. I just assumed that the custom was the same in your realm." Britney laughed and looked most relieved that this wasn't strange to him.

"No, in my realm it's kind of odd for a woman of twenty-four to be a virgin, I mean, it's something you don't want people to know." Loki thought this to be absolutely ridiculous, but he didn't say so in fear of disrespecting her.

"That's why I thought you stopped me actually, you were embarrassed that you'd be having pre-marital sex, which I can assure you is nothing to worry about if I have my way, because the wedding will follow shortly after. That or you thought you weren't pretty enough, which is equally wrong." There that marriage thing was again and Britney turned about three different colors in a matter of a few seconds.

"You really do want to marry me don't you?" Loki smiled but didn't answer, feeling that it was unnecessary at this point. He simply proceeded with removing her panties and then pulled her dress up over her head. He slid down to the bottom of her body and buried his face in her most sensitive parts, his tongue exploring more than it had ever dared explore something before. She tugged harder on his hair, causing him to bite down hard on her clitoris, earning a moan from Britney that went straight to his dick. He licked up and down her quim and then trailed light kisses up her stomach and to her bra. He unhooked it quickly and made haste with the first nipple he came to. He suckled it as if he were a child and reached around to play with the other one. Britney's body was reacting in ways she didn't quite understand, as now it was rocking into his touch unconsciously and she couldn't stop the soft mewling sounds escaping her lips. He pulled away with a grin and moved back down to her nether-regions, slipping two of his fingers in and curling them.

"L-Loki." The moan wasn't loud but it was his name, and the way it had poured from her mouth like an erotic pet-name had Loki fully erect in a matter of seconds. He fingered her for a few moments, making sure he found her G-spot as he rid himself of his own clothing. His armor clattered to the floor and he tore his under clothing off faster than lightening, eager to let his throbbing member loose from his pants. Wanting to reciprocate, once Loki was fully unclothed, Britney took it upon herself to get on her knees and bring is cock to her mouth.

"Britney, love, you don't have too—ohhhh!" He groaned as she took as much as she could of it into her mouth. Loki was large down there, and Britney had a prominent gag reflex, so it wasn't much, but she did what she could. She rubbed her ice cold hands up and down his shaft while her mouth was busy toying with the head. It was his turn for his hands to fly into her hair, pushing her down on it as far as she could go. She ran her teeth gently along his big purple head, which by now was oozing pre-cum, and then happily lapped at the veins along the underside of his penis, causing him to shudder violently.

"Okay, stop, fair one, much more and I'll…well, you know." He laughed, mocking her line from earlier. He lined his penis up to her vagina and gently rubbed her leg.

"This may hurt a bit, so I'm going to go in slowly, okay?" Panicked, Britney said the one thing she was sure would halt everything at once, although that was only what the scared part of her wanted and she knew the rest of her might regret it later.

"But wait we don't have any condoms!" Loki's eyebrows furrowed and he was taken back a bit.

"What's a condom?" He asked curiously, thinking it might be a toy he'd never heard of before.

"It's something that keeps a woman from getting pregnant, don't you use those in Asgard?" Loki looked absolutely appalled at the thought.

"Good lord no, why would you want to do that? Asgardians only have sex with their husbands and wives for a reason, by the time sex comes about we're ready for heirs. Besides, most of the time it takes a lot of effort to get a woman pregnant which is why the only biological descendent of Odin and Frigga is Thor…no matter how hard they tried one child was all they could manage. Is it different in your realm?" Britney nodded.

"It's very easy to get pregnant in Midgard." Loki thought this was funny.

"That is the queerest thing…no wonder you're so over populated. I kind of want to find out if it's the men of Midgard that are over fertile or if it's the women." He said seductively, leaning in for a kiss. They kissed passionately for a while before Loki abruptly pulled back.

"Wait…if you inquired about these condoms, does it mean you don't want to have my children?" Britney was quite stuck. She didn't know if he was curious as to whether or not she wanted any or if he was offended that she didn't seem to want them specifically from him.

"No, it's not that at all. I want children rather badly…I just…I thought you wouldn't want any with all that's going on. I was kind of afraid that if I were to become pregnant I'd be more of a burden to you than I would be an asset while you're trying to take over Midgard." Loki thought about this for a moment and then smirked.

"It matters not to me if you are to become pregnant or not. You can help me up until it becomes too dangerous for you and the baby, I'd say around month eight, and then I'll simply take over from there alone. I mean, if you think about it, that's eight months of help, and we can accomplish a lot in eight months. Then once the child is born I'll have you back to help me _and_ I'll have an heir. That sounds to me like a win-win situation." Britney had not anticipated this reaction at all and it suddenly hit her like a ton of bricks that she was in no way getting out of this, which pleased and terrified her at the same time. Loki kissed her gently this time, sweetly, and nuzzled into her neck.

"It makes me happy to know you do want children. I think it's only fitting that we have numerous heirs, as I'm eager to have blood relatives, and if we have enough we can build a small royal army. Thus, we will never have to worry about being over-thrown and…well, I think it would be rather erotic to watch you grow round with my child. Something we made together would be growing inside you, something completely ours and no one else's. It would be apparent then to all who see you that I took your maidenhood from you and made you mine. That's what I want." He said softly, baring his soul to her in a way he would with no one else.

"That's all I've ever wanted. Someone to call my own, to have something belong to me, like family." Britney's eyes misted over and tenderly stroked his face.

"I can give you that. I _want_ to give you that." Loki captured her lips again, this time far more intensely than ever before. Their tongues clashed in what seemed to be a battle, flesh scorching flesh, as their fingertips caressed and explored each other all over. While she was distracted by the kissing, he as gently as he possibly could, eased himself into her and with a sudden thrust from his hips, he broke through her innocence and made it all the way in. Britney felt the tear clear as day and cried out loudly into his mouth, a few tears rolling down her cheeks. Loki kissed them away but held still as a statue, waiting for the pain to cease.

"Are you alright? How bad does it hurt?" Britney tried to take a calming breath.

"It feels like I've been stabbed by a knife in a very uncomfortable area…but I want you to move." She said bravely, though Loki didn't want to if it really hurt as bad as she'd described it.

"Are you certain?" She nodded.

"Yes, I think eventually the pleasure will override the pain." Loki still didn't seem sure but he moved in and out very slowly for a few moments until he was sure he was all the pain ease from her face and she starting bucking up into him. He pulled her up by her hair and forced his tongue back into her mouth roughly, gripping her hips and throwing all of himself into his thrusts. The more he heard her moan his name into his mouth the faster he went, craving to hear more, needing to know how much she needed him. He finally let her lips go for this purpose and bent her over in an attempt to reach her spot better.

"What's my name?" Loki whispered. Britney grabbed on to the sheets and moaned.

"Ugh…Loki…." Loki growled and spanked her hard.

"Louder, what's my name?" Another smack.

"Loki!" Loki through his head back in a loud moan.

"Fuck…yes, who do you love?" He demanded, digging his nails into her ass.

"You! Oh God I love you so much!" She practically screamed as he rammed into her special spot for about the twentieth time. That was enough for him, he spilled his seed all inside of her as her orgasm exploded within her groin. Their bodies slammed into each other a few more times, milking it for all it was worth before Loki finally pulled out and curled up beside her.

"That was amazing." Britney whispered breathlessly. Loki chuckled.

"Never thought sex could feel that way…I mean people described it as magic but still…" Britney giggled.

"I know! That's what I'm saying!" They both snickered for a little bit and buried themselves into an embrace.

Meanwhile, Tony was in the process of finishing up another section of the machine when he got a phone call.

"Dr. Banner? I haven't heard from you since the incident in New York, what's up man?" Tony listened for a bit and then grinned.

"That's great actually, why don't you and your girlfriend come over for a little bit, I'll tell Michaela to get everything set up and then we'll get started." He hung up and fist bumped the air happily.

"J.A.R.V.I.S! Fetch my wife and a bottle of Brandy, we have celebrating to do!" There was silence for a moment before a computerized chuckle was heard.

"Mr. Stark sir, I'm a computer." Tony laughed back and rolled his eyes.

"Then use my suit to do it, duh." J.A.R.V.I.S playfully called him lazy and sent an Iron Man suit to the liquor cabinet. Man, Tony loved his technology.


End file.
